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ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 


MASTER  OF  THE  AMSTERDAM  CABINET.    TWO  LOVERS 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  6K  x  4^^  inches 
In  the  Ducal  Collection,  Coburg 


ENGRAVERS 


AND 


ETCHERS 


SIX  LECTURES  DELIVERED  ON  THE  SCAMMON  FOUNDATION 
AT  THE  ART  INSTITUTE  OF  CHICAGO,  MARCH  19 1 6 

BY 

FITZROY  CARRINGTON,  M.  A. 

curator   of   prints  at  the  museum   of  fine  arts, 

boston;  lecturer  on  the  history  and  principles 

of  engraving  at  harvard  university;   editor  of 

"the  print-collector's  quarterly" 


WITH   133  ILLUSTRATIONS 


THE  ART  INSTITUTE  OF  CHICAGO 
19T7 


COPYRIGHT    I917 

THOMSEN- BRYAN -ELLIS  COMPANY 


DESIGNED   AND    PUBLISHED    BY 

HOMSEN- BRYAN-ELLIS   COMPANY 
WASHINGTON  BALTIMORE 

NEW  YORK        PHILADELPHIA 


TO  THOSE 

WHO  HELPED  ME  MAKE  THIS  BOOK 

IN  GRATEFUL  RECOGNITION 


NOTE 

The  lectures  presented  in  this  volume  comprise 
the  twelfth  series  delivered  at  the  Art  Insti- 
tute of  Chicago  on  the  Scammon  Foundation. 
The  Scammon  Lectureship  is  established  on 
an  ample  basis  by  bequest  of  Mrs.  Maria 
Sheldon  Scammon^  who  died  in  igoi.  The 
will  prescribes  that  these  lectures  shall  be  upon 
the  history^  theory^  and  practice  of  the  Fine 
Arts  {meaning  thereby  the  graphic  and  plastic 
arts)^  by  persons  of  distinction  or  authority 
on  the  subject  on  which  they  lecture^  such 
lectures  to  be  primarily  for  the  benefit  of  the 
students  of  the  Art  Institute,  and  secondarily 
for  members  and  other  persons.  The  lectures 
are  known  as  ''The  Scammon  Lectures.'' 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

LECTURE  I 
German  Engraving:  From  the  Beginnings 
TO  Martin  Schongauer      ....        13 

LECTURE  LI 
Italian  Engraving:  The  Florentines       .       51 

LECTURE  LII 
German  Engraving:  The  Master  of  the 
Amsterdam    Cabinet   and    Albrecht 
DURER 95 

LECTURE  IV 
Italian  Engraving:  Mantegna  to  Marc- 
antonio  Raimondi 139 

LECTURE  V 
Some  Masters  of  Portraiture    .        .        .     181 

LECTURE  VI 
Landscape  Etching 227 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Master  of  the  Amsterdam  Cabinet.  Two  Lovers 

Frontispiece 

Master  OF  THE  Playing  Cards.    St.  George      ...  15 

Man  of  Sorrows 16 

Master  of  the  Year  1446.    Christ  Nailed  to  the  Cross  19 

Master   of    St.    John    the    Baptist.     St.    John    the 

Baptist 20 

Master  E.  S.  of  1466.   Madonna  and  Child  with  Saints 

Marguerite  and  Catherine 23 

Ecstasy  of  St.  Mary  Magdalen     . 24 

Design  for  a  Paten 27 

St.  John  on  the  Island  of  Patmos 28 

Martin  Schongauer.    Virgin  with  a  Parrot       ...  31 

Temptation  of  St.  Anthony 32 

Death  of  the  Virgin                   1^2 

Pilate  Washing  His  Hands 34 

St.  John  on  the  Island  of  Patmos 37 

Christ  Appearing  to  the  Magdalen 38 

Virgin  Seated  in  a  Courtyard 39 

Angel  of  the  Annunciation 40 

The  Miller 43 

Censer 44 

Master  L  Cz.    Christ  Tempted 47 

Christ  Entering  Jerusalem 48 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Anonymous  Florentine,  XV  Century.    Profile  Por- 
trait of  a  Lady ^2 

Wild  Animals  Hunting  and  Fighting       ....  54 

Triumphal  Procession  of  Bacchus  and  x'\riadne        .  57 

Jupiter  ' 58 

Mercury 63 

Lady  with  a  Unicorn 64 

The  Christian's  Ascent  to  the  Glory  of  Paradise. 

From  "II  Monte  Sancto  di  Dio,"  Florence,  1477  67 
Dante    and    Virgil    with    the    Vision    of   Beatrice. 

From  the  "Divina  Commedia,"  Florence,  1481  68 

Assumption  of  the  Virgin  (After  Botticelli) ...  71 

Triumph  of  Love.    From  the  Triumphs  of  Petrarch  72 
Triumph    of   Chastity.     PVom    the    Triumphs    of 

Petrarch 7< 

Libyan  Sibyl 76 

Anonymous    North    Ffalian,    XV    Century.      The 

Gentleman.    From  the  Tarocchi  Prints  (E  Series)  79 

Clio.    From  the  Tarocchi  Prints  (S  Series)  ...  80 

The  Sun.    From  the  Tarocchi  Prints  (E  Series)       .  83 

Angel  of  the  Eighth  Sphere.     From  the  Tarocchi 

Prints  (E  Series) 84 

Cristofano  Robetta.    Adoration  of  the  Magi  ...  87 

Antonio  PoLLAiuoLO.    Battle  of  Naked  Men     ...  88 

Master  of  the  Amsterdam  Cabinet.    Ecstasy  of  St. 

Mary  Magdalen 97 

Crucifixion 98 

Stag  Hunt 101 

St.  George 102 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Albrecht  DiJRER.    Virgin  and  Child  with  the  Monkey  107 

Four  Naked  Women 108 

Hercules 1 1 1 

Anonymous  North  Italian,  XV  Century.    Death  of 

Orpheus 112 

Albrecht  DiJRER.    Death  of  Orpheus 113 

Battle  of  the  Sea-Gods  (After  Mantegna)    .      .      .  114 

Adam  and  Eve 117 

Apollo  and  Diana 118 

St.  Jerome  by  the  Willow  Tree  (First  State)            .  121 

Holy  Family 122 

Knight,  Death  and  the  Devil 125 

Melancholia 126 

St.  Jerome  in  His  Cell 129 

Virgin  Seated  Beside  a  Wall 130 

Christ  in  the  Garden 133 

Erasmus  of  Rotterdam 134 

Andrea  Mantegna.    Virgin  and  Child 141 

Battle  of  the  Sea-Gods 142 

The    Risen    Christ     Between    Saints  Andrew   and 

Longinus 147 

School  OF  Andrea  Mantegna.   x^doration  of  the  Magi  148 

ZoAN  Andrea  (.^).    Four  Women  Dancing     ....  151 

Giovanni  Antonio   da   Brescia.     Holy   Family   with 

Saints  Elizabeth  and  John 152 

School  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci.  Profile  Bust  of  a  Young 

Woman 155 

NicoLETTO  Rosex  DA  MoDENA.   Orpheus      .      .      .      .  156 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Jacopo  de'  Barbari.    Apollo  and  Diana        .      .      .  159 

St.  Catherine 160 

GiULio    Campagnola.      Christ    and    the    Woman    of 

Samaria • 163 

Ganymede  (First  State) 164 

St.  John  the  Baptist           167 

GiULio  AND  DoMENico  Campagnoi.a.    Shepherds  in  a 

Landscape 168 

Marcantonio  Raimondi.    St.  George  and  the  Dragon  171 

Bathers 172 

St.  Cecelia .  173 

Death  of  Lucretia 174 

Philotheo  Achillini  ("The  Guitar  Player")  .      .      .  177 

Pietro  Aretino 178 

Master  NX/^fi.    Head  of  a  Young  Woman    ....  183 

Albrecht  DuRER.    Albert  of  Brandenburg   ....  184 

Philip  Melanchthon 187 

Anthony  Van  Dyck.    Portrait  of  Himself  (First  State)  188 

Frans  Snyders  (First  State) 191 

Lucas  Vorsterman  (First  State) 192 

Rembrandt.    Jan  Cornells  Sylvius 195 

Rembrandt  Leaning  on  a  Stone  Sill 196 

Clement  de  Jonghe  (First  State) 197 

Jan  Lutma  (First  State) 198 

Claude  Mellan.    Virginia  da  Vezzo 201 

Fabri  de  Peiresc 202 

Jean  Morin.    Cardinal  Guido  Bentivoglio    ....  205 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Robert  Nanteuii..    Pompone  de  Bellievre   ....  206 

Basile  Fouquet .211 

Jean  Loret 212 

J.  A.  McN.  Whistler.    Annie  Haden 215 

Riault,  the  Engraver 216 

Anders  Zorn.    Ernest  Renan         219 

The  Toast 220 

Madame  Simon 221 

Miss  Emma  Rassmussen 222 

Albrecht  DiJRER.    The  Cannon 229 

AuGusTiN  HiRscHvoGEL.    Landscape 230 

Rembrandt.    The  Windmill 233 

Three  Trees 234 

Six's  Bridge 237 

Landscape  with  a  Ruined  Tower  and  Clear  Fore- 
ground         238 

Landscape  with  a  Hay  barn  and  a  Flock  ot  Sheep  239 

Three  Cottages " 240 

Goldweigher's  Field 243 

Jacob  Ruysdael.    Wheat  Field 244 

Claude  Lorrain.    Le  Bouvier 249 

Charles  Jacque.    Troupeau  de  Pores 250 

Storm — Landscape  with  a  White  Horse        .       .  253 

CnARLEs-FRANgois  Daubignv.    Deer  in  a  W^ood  254 

Deer  Coming  Down  to  Drink 257 

Moonlight  on  the  Banks  ot  the  Oise        ....  258 

Camille  CoROT.    Souvenir  of  Italy 261 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

jEAN-pRANgois  MiLLET.    The  Gleaners 262 

Seymour  Haden.    Cardigan  Bridge    .  , 26^; 

By-Road  in  Tipperary 266 

Sunset  in  Ireland 267 

Sawley  Abbey 268 

J.  A.  McN.  Whistler.   Zaandam  (First  State)        .      .  271 

Rembrandt.    View  of  Amsterdam  from  the  East     .      .  272 


TO  THE  READER 

When  that  most  sensitive  of  American  print- 
lovers,  the  late  Francis  Bullard,  learned  that  I  was 
to  deliver  at  Harvard,  each  year,  a  course  of  lec- 
tures on  the  History  and  Principles  of  Engraving, 
he  wrote  me  one  of  those  characteristic  letters 
which  endeared  him  to  his  friends,  concluding  his 
wise  counsels  with  these  words:  ''Nothing  original 
— get  it  all  out  of  the  books' 

In  these  six  lectures  I  have  endeavored  to  profit 
by  his  suggestion.  In  them  there  is  little  original: 
most  of  it  is  out  of  the  books.  Books,  however,  like 
Nature,  are  a  storehouse  from  which  we  draw  what- 
ever is  best  suited  to  our  immediate  needs;  and  if 
in  choosing  that  which  might  interest  an  audience, 
to  the  majority  of  whom  engravings  and  etchings 
were  an  unexplored  country,  I  have  preferred  the 
obvious  to  the  profound,  I  trust  that  the  true-blue 
Print  Expert  will  forgive  me.  These  simple  lectures 
make  no  pretense  of  being  a  History  of  Engraving, 
or  a  manual  of  How  to  Appreciate  Prints.  My  sole 
aim  has  been  to  share  with  my  audience  the  stimu- 
lation and  pleasure  which  certain  prints  by  the 
great  engravers  and  etchers  have  given  me.  If  I 
have  succeeded,  even  a  little,  I  shall  be  happy. 
I  would  add  that  the  lectures  are  printed  in  sub- 
stantially the  same  form  as  they  were  delivered. 


Consequently  they  must  be  read  in  connection  with 
the  illustrations  which  accompany  them. 

The  Bibliographies  which  follow  each  chapter 
have  been  prepared  by  Mr.  Adam  E.  M.  Paff, 
Assistant  in  the  Department  of  Prints  at  the 
Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


FiTzRoY  Carrington 


Museum  of  Fine  Arts^  Boston 
June  26,  igi6 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 


GERMAN  ENGRAVING:  FROM  THE  BEGIN- 
NINGS TO  MARTIN  SCHONGAUER 

WHERE  were  the  beginnings?  When  were  the 
beginnings?  Germany,  the  Netherlands, 
and  Italy  have  each  claimed  priority.  Max  Lehrs 
has  settled  these  rival  claims,  so  far  as  they  can  be 
settled  at  the  present  time,  by  locating  the  cradle 
of  engraving  neither  in  Germany,  in  the  Nether- 
lands, nor  in  Italy,  but  in  a  neutral  country — 
Switzerland,  in  the  vicinity  of  Basle — naming  the 
Master  of  the  Playing  Cards  as  probably  the 
earliest  engraver  whose  works  have  come  down  to 
us.  Undoubtedly  this  artist  was  not  the  first  to 
engrave  upon  metal  plates,  but  of  his  predecessors 
nothing  is  known,  nor  has  any  example  of  their 
work  survived. 

The  technical  method  of  the  Master  of  the  Play- 
ing Cards  is  that  of  a  painter  rather  than  of  a  gold- 
smith. There  is  practically  no  cross-hatching,  and 
the  effect  is  produced  by  a  series  of  delicate  lines, 
mostly  vertical,  laid  close  together.  His  plates  are 
unsigned  and  undated,  so  that  we  can  only  approx- 
imate the  period  of  his  activity.  That  he  preceded, 
by  at  least  ten  years,  the  earliest  dated  engraving, 

[13] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

the  Flagellation^  by  the  Master  of  1446,  may  safely 
be  assumed,  since  in  the  manuscript  copy  of  Conrad 
von  Wiirzburg's  '*The  Trojan  War,"  transcribed  in 
1441  by  Heinrich  von  Steinfurt  (an  ecclesiastic  of 
Osnabriick),  there  are  pen  drawings  of  figures  wear- 
ing costumes  which  correspond  exactly  with  those 
in  prints  by  the  Master  of  the  Playing  Cards  in  his 
middle  period.  The  Master  of  the  Playing  Cards  is, 
therefore,  the  first  bright  morning  star  of  engrav- 
ing. From  him  there  fiows  a  stream  of  influence 
affecting  substantially  all  of  the  German  masters 
until  the  time  of  Martin  Schongauer,  some  of  whose 
earlier  plates  show  unmistakable  traces  of  an  ac- 
quaintanceship with  his  work. 

St.  George  and  the  Dragon  is  in  his  early  manner. 
Here  are  plainly  to  be  seen  the  characteristics  of 
this  first  period — the  broken,  stratified  rocks,  the 
isolated  and  conventionalized  plants,  and  the  pe- 
culiar drawing  of  the  horse,  especially  its  slanting 
and  half-human  eyes.  The  Playing  Cards.,  from 
which  he  takes  his  name,  may  safely  be  assigned  to 
his  middle  period.  The  suits  are  made  up  o{ Flowers 
(roses  and  cyclamen).  Wild  Men^  Birds.,  and  Deer^ 
with  a  fifth,  or  alternative  suit  of  Lions  and  Bears. 
Like  all  the  early  German  designers  of  playing 
cards,  he  has  given  free  rein  to  his  fancy  and  inven- 
tiveness. The  position  of  the  different  emblems  is 
varied  for  each  numeral  card;  and  each  flower,  wild 

[14] 


MASTER  OF  THE  PLAYING  CARDS.     ST.  GEORGE 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  5  J^  x  5^  inches 
In  the  Roya!  Print  Room,  Dresden 


MASTER  OF  THE  PLAYING  CARDS.     MAN  OF  SORROWS 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  7^  x  5M  inches 
In  the  British  Museum 


I 


GERMAN  ENGRAVING 

man,  bird,  or  beast,  has  an  attitude  and  character 
of  its  own,  no  two  being  identical.  No  engraver 
has  surpassed  him  in  truthfuhiess  and  subtlety  of 
observation  and  in  the  delineation  of  birds  few 
artists  have  equalled  him.  His  rendering  of  the 
growth  and  form  of  flowers  would  have  delighted 
John  Ruskin.  In  the  King  of  Cyclamen  and  the 
^ueen  of  Cyclamen  the  faces  have  an  almost  por- 
trait-like individuality.  The  hands  are  well  drawn 
and  do  not  yet  display  that  attenuation  which  is 
characteristic  of  nearly  all  fifteenth  century  Ger- 
man masters  and  is  a  noticeable  feature  in  engrav- 
ings by  Martin  Schongauer  himself.  The  clothing 
falls  in  natural  folds,  and  in  the  King  of  Cyclamen 
the  representation  of  fur  could  hardly  be  bettered. 
To  his  latest  and  most  mature  period  must  be 
assigned  the  Man  of  Sorrows — in  some  ways  his 
finest,  and  certainly  his  most  moving,  plate.  Not 
only  has  he  differentiated  between  the  textures  of 
the  linen  loin-cloth  and  the  coarser  material  of  the 
cloak;  but  the  column,  the  cross  with  its  beautiful 
and  truthful  indication  of  the  grain  of  the  wood, 
and  the  ground  itself,  all  are  treated  with  a  knowl- 
edge and  a  sensitiveness  that  is  surprising.  The 
engraver's  greatest  triumph,  however,  is  in  the 
figure  of  Christ.  There  is  a  feeling  for  form  and 
structure,  sadly  lacking  in  the  work  of  his  suc- 
cessors,  and   his   suggestion   of  the   strained   and 

[17] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

pulsing  veins,  which  throb  through  the  Redeemer's 
tortured  limbs,  is  of  a  compelling  truth. 

Chief  among  the  engravers  who  show  most  clearly 
the  influence  of  the  Master  of  the  Playing  Cards  is 
the  Master  of  the  Year  1446,  so  named  from  the 
date  which  appears  in  the  Flagellation.  His  prints 
present  a  more  or  less  primitive  appearance,  and 
were  it  not  for  this  date,  one  might  be  tempted,  on 
internal  evidence,  to  assign  them  to  an  earlier 
period.  In  the  Passion  series,  in  particular,  many 
of  the  figures  are  more  gnome-like  than  human. 
Such  creatures  as  the  man  blowing  a  horn,  in  Christ 
Nailed  to  the  C^'oss^  and  the  man  pulling  upon  a 
rope,  in  the  same  print,  recall  to  our  minds,  by  an 
association  of  ideas,  the  old  German  fairy  tales. 

Contemporary  with  the  Master  of  1446,  and  be- 
longing to  the  Burgundian-Netherlands  group,  to 
which  also  belong  the  two  anonymous  engravers 
known  as  the  Master  of  the  Mount  of  Calvary 
and  the  Master  of  the  Death  of  Mary,  is  the 
Master  of  the  Gardens  of  Love.  His  figures  are 
crude  in  drawing  and  stiff  in  their  movements.  His 
knowledge  of  tree  forms  is  rudimentary;  but  his 
animals  and  birds  show  real  observation  and  seem 
to  have  been  studied  from  life. 

In  the  larger  of  the  two  engravings  from  which 
he  takes  his  name,  we  see  reflected  the  pleasure- 
loving    court    of   the    Dukes    of   Burgundy.     On 

[18] 


MASTER  OF  THE  YEAR  1446.  CHRIST  NAILED  TO  THE  CROSS 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  4H  x  3X  inches 
In  the  Royal  Print  Room,  Berlin 


MASTER  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST.     ST.  JOHN  THE 
BAPTIST 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  8K  x  5>i  inches 
In  the  Albertina,  Vienna 


GERMAN  ENGRAVING 

the  right,  a  lady  leads  her  lover  to  a  table  spread  . 
with  tempting  viands.  She  stretches  forth  her  right 
hand  to  take  the  fruit.  It  is  a  fig,  the  sign  of  fer- 
tility. To  their  right,  drinking  from  a  stream,  is  a 
unicorn,  the  sign  of  chastity.  The  artist  seemingly 
wishes  the  lady's  message  to  read  that  she  is  still 
unwedded,  and  that,  were  she  wedded,  she  would 
be  a  good  mother.  Observe,  likewise,  the  way  in 
which  the  engraver  has  placed  the  wild  hogs,  deer, 
and  bears  emerging  from  the  woods,  while,  in  the 
sky,  numerous  birds  wing  their  flight.  In  the  im- 
mediate foreground  a  lady  and  a  cavalier  are  read- 
ing poetry  to  each  other.  Another  lady  plays  to  a 
gallant  who,  in  a  most  uncomfortable  attitude, 
holds  a  sheet  of  music.  In  the  right-hand  corner  is 
a  fourth  pair,  the  lady  busily  twining  a  wreath  for 
her  lover's  hat,  which  lies  on  her  lap.  We  have  here 
a  compendium  of  the  courtly  life  of  the  time,  which 
is  about  1448. 

The  Master  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  may  fit- 
tingly be  called  the  first  realist  in  engraving.  His 
plates  do  not  display  that  extraordinary  delicacy 
in  cutting  which  is  characteristic  of  the  Master  of 
the  Playing  Cards.  Like  that  earlier  engraver,  he 
makes  little  use  of  cross-hatching,  and  his  strokes 
are  freely  disposed — more  in  themanner  of  a  painter 
than  a  goldsmith-engraver.  His  birds  and  flowers 
are  closely  observed  and  admirably  rendered. 

[21] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

The  mullein,  the  columbine,  and  the  iris  in  St. 
John  the  Baptist  are  each  given  their  individual 
character;  the  tree  trunks  to  the  right  no  longer 
resemble  twisted  columns,  as  in  earlier  work,  but 
have  real  bark  with  knot  holes  and  branches  organi- 
cally joined,  though  the  foliage  is  still  convention- 
ally treated.  One  cannot  but  remark,  also,  the 
skilful  way  in  which  the  engraver  has  differentiated 
between  the  furry  undergarment  and  the  cloak 
which  St.  John  the  Baptist  wears. 

In  St.  Christopher  we  have  probably  one  of  his 
latest  works.  His  representation  of  the  waves,  of 
the  sky  and  clouds,  is  noteworthy,  while,  on  the 
beach,  the  sea-shells  give  mute  testimony  to  his 
love  for  little  things. 

Of  the  predecessors  of  Martin  Schongauer,  none 
exerted  a  greater  influence  than  the  Master  E.  S. 
OF  1466.  On  the  technical  side  he  was  the  actual 
creator  of  engraving  as  practised  in  modern  times, 
and  was  a  determining  factor  in  the  progress  of 
the  art.  Even  the  Italian  engravers  were  unable  to 
withstand  it;  their  Prophets  and  Sibyls  are  partly 
derived  from  his  Evangelists  and  Apostles,  the  easy 
disposition  of  his  draperies  furnishing  them  with 
models.  Over  three  hundred  engravings  by  the 
Master  E.  S.  have  come  down  to  us,  and  over  a 
hundred  more  can  be  traced  through  copies  by 
other  hands,  or  as  having  formed  component  parts 


MASTER  E.  S.  OF  1466.     MADONNA  AND  CHILD  WITH  SAINTS 
MARGUERITE  AND  CATHERINE 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  S^i  x  6^8  inches 
In  the  Royal  Print  Room,  Dresden 


MASTER  E.  S.  OF  1466.     ECSTASY  OF  ST.  MARY 
MAGDALEN 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  6><  x  5  inches 
In  the  Royal  Print  Room,  Dresden 


GERMAN  ENGRAVING 

of  his  two  sets  of  playing  cards — the  smaller  set 
made  up  of  tVild  Animals^  Helmets,  Escutcheons, 
and  Flowers,  while  the  larger  set  comprises  Men, 
Dogs,  Birds,  and  Escutcheons. 

His  work  shows  unmistakably  the  influence  of 
the  Master  of  the  Playing  Cards,  and  we  may 
safely  place  him  in  the  region  of  the  upper  Rhine, 
probably  in  the  vicinity  of  Freiburg  or  Breisach, 
In  the  Madonna  and  Child  with  Saints  Marguerite 
and  Catherine  his  peculiar  qualities  and  limitations 
may  clearly  be  seen.  The  plants  and  flowers,  with 
which  the  ground  is  thickly  carpeted,  are  engraved 
in  firm,  clear-cut  lines,  betokening  the  trained  hand 
of  the  goldsmith.  The  figures  and  drapery  are  ren- 
dered with  delicate  single  strokes;  but  in  the  shaded 
portions  of  the  wall,  back  of  the  Madonna,  cross- 
hatching  is  skilfully  employed.  As  is  the  case  in 
nearly  all  the  works  of  the  early  German  engravers, 
the  laws  of  perspective  are  imperfectly  understood, 
but  none  the  less  the  composition  has  a  charm  all 
its  own. 

The  Ecstasy  of  St.  Mary  Magdalen  is  of  interest, 
not  only  technically  and  artistically,  but  because  of 
its  influence  upon  the  Master  of  the  Amsterdam 
Cabinet,  who  has  twice  treated  the  subject,  and 
upon  Albrecht  Diirer,  by  whom  we  have  a  wood- 
cut seemingly  copied  from  this  engraving.  Martin 
Schongauer,  likewise,  may  have  profited   by   the 

[25] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

feathered  forms  of  the  angels  which  reappear,  some- 
what modified,  in  his  engraving  of  the  Nativity. 
The  birds  and  the  isolated  plants  in  the  foreground 
still  show  the  influence  of  the  Master  of  the  Playing 
Cards. 

St.  Matthew  (whom  we  shall  meet  again  in  our 
consideration  of  Florentine  engraving,  transformed 
into  the  Tiburtine  Sibyl^  engraved  in  the  Fine  Man- 
ner of  the  Finiguerra  School)  and  St.  Paul  (who 
likewise  reappears  as  Amos  in  the  series  o{  Prophets 
and  Sibyls)  show  an  increasing  command  of  tech- 
nical resources.  The  draperies  are  beautifully  dis- 
posed; and,  in  St.  Paul^  the  system  of  cross-hatch- 
ing upon  the  back  of  the  chair,  in  the  shaded  por- 
tions beneath,  and  upon  the  mantle  of  the  saint,  is 
fully  developed. 

The  Madonna  of  Einsiedeln^  dated  1466,  is 
usually  accounted  the  engraver's  masterpiece. 
Beautiful  though  it  is  in  composition  and  in  execu- 
tion, it  suggests  a  translation,  into  black  and  white, 
of  a  painting,  and  on  technical  grounds,  as  well  as 
for  the  beauty  of  its  component  parts,  one  may 
prefer  the  Design  for  a  Paten^  dating  from  the  same 
year  [1466].  Here  the  central  scene,  representing 
St.  John  the  Baptist,  owes  not  a  little,  both  in  com- 
position and  in  technique,  to  the  Master  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist.  The  four  Evangelists,  arranged  in 
alternation  with  their  appropriate  symbols,  around 

[26] 


MASTER  E.  S.  OF  1466.     DESIGN  FOR  A  PATEN 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  7M  inches  in  diameter 
In  the  Royal  Print  Room,  Berlin 


MASTF.R  E.  S.  OF  1466.     ST.  JOHN  ON  THE  ISLAND  OF  PATMOS 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  8M  x  5K  inches 
In  the  Hofbibliotek,  Vienna 


GERMAN  ENGRAVING 

the  central  picture,  are  little  masterpieces  of  char- 
acterization and  of  engraving,  and  there  can  be 
nothing  but  unmixed  admiration  for  the  way  in 
which  plant  and  bird  forms  are  woven  into  a  per- 
fectly harmonious  pattern. 

St.  John  on  the  Island  of  Patmos  likewise  shows 
unmistakably  the  influence  of  the  Master  of  St. 
John  the  Baptist  and  is  doubly  interesting  inas- 
much as,  in  its  turn,  it  had  a  shaping  influence 
upon  the  engraving  of  the  same  subject  by  Martin 
Schongauer.  It  is  dated  1467,  the  latest  date  found 
upon  any  plate  by  the  Master  E.  S.,  and  it  is  as- 
sumed that  in  this  year  his  activity  came  to  an  end. 

Martin  Schongauer,  who  was  born  in  Colmar 
about  1445  and  is  known  to  have  died  in  1491,  is 
not  only  the  most  eminent  painter  and  engraver 
in  the  latter  third  of  the  fifteenth  century,  he  is 
one  of  the  very  greatest  masters  of  the  graphic  arts. 
His  plates  number  one  hundred  and  fifteen,  and, 
as  in  the  case  of  Albrecht  Diirer,  it  is  upon  his  en- 
graved work,  rather  than  upon  his  all  too  few 
paintings,  that  his  immortality  must  rest. 

Schongauer's  prints  can  be  arranged  in  something 
approximating  chronological  order.  In  the  earliest 
twelve  engravings  the  shanks  of  the  letter  M,  in 
his  monogram,  are  drawn  vertically,  whereas  in  all 
his  later  prints  they  slant  outward.  This  apparently 
minor  point  is  really  of  great  significance  in  a  study 

[29] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

of  his  development,  since  it  enables  us  to  place 
correctly  certain  plates  which,  until  recently,  were 
assigned  to  his  latest  period,  such  as  the  Death  of 
the  Virgin^  the  Adoration  of  the  Magi,  and  the 
Flight  Into  Egypt. 

One  of  the  richest  toned  plates  in  this  first  group 
is  the  Virgin  with  a  Parrot,  an  engraving  which, 
incidentally,  exists  in  two  states.  In  the  second 
state,  the  cushion  upon  which  the  Christ  Child  is 
seated,  instead  of  being  plain,  has  an  elaborate 
pattern  upon  the  upper  side,  and  the  flowing  tresses 
of  the  Virgin  are  extended  more  to  the  left,  thereby 
greatly  improving  the  composition  as  a  whole. 

For  Martin  Schongauer,  as  for  nearly  all  the 
earlier  German  masters,  the  grotesque  had  a 
strange  fascination.  His  power  of  welding  together 
parts  of  various  animals  into  living  fantastic 
creatures  is  nowhere  better  seen  than  in  the 
Temptation  of  St.  Anthony.  Vasari  tells  how  the 
young  Michelangelo,  meeting  with  an  impression 
of  this  engraving  in  Florence,  was  impelled  to  copy 
it  with  a  pen  "in  such  a  manner  as  had  never  before 
been  seen.  He  painted  it  in  colors  also,  and  the 
better  to  imitate  the  strange  forms  among  these 
devils,  he  bought  fish  which  had  scales  somewhat 
resembling  those  of  the  demon.  In  this  pen  copy 
also  he  displayed  so  much  ability  that  his  credit 
and  reputation  were  greatly  enhanced  thereby." 

[30] 


nt  -fjr-  'B^   SL 


MARTIN  SCHONGAUER.     VIRGIN  WITH  A  PARROT 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  6K  x  4K  inches 
In  the  Public  Art  Collections,  Basle 


r^-Szr^i^ 


MARTIN  SCHONGAUER.   TEMPTATION  OF  ST.  ANTHONY 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  12H  x  9K  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


MARTIN  SCHONGAUER.    DEATH  OF  THE  VIRGIN 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  lo'-g  x  6H  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


MARTIN  SCHONGAUER.     PILATE  WASHING  HIS  HANDS 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  6fi  x  4K  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


GERMAN  ENGRAVING 

It  would  appear  to  be  one  of  Schongauer's  early 
plates,  not  only  from  the  form  of  the  monogram, 
but  also  from  the  treatment  of  the  upper  portion  of 
the  sky,  shaded  with  many  horizontal  graver  strokes, 
growing  stronger  as  the  upper  edge  of  the  plate  is 
reached — a  treatment  which  does  not  occur  in  any 
other  print  by  him. 

Among  the  myriad  renderings  of  the  Death  of 
the  Virgin^  by  painters  and  engravers,  it  is  doubtful 
if  any  version  is  superior,  so  far  as  dramatic  inten- 
sity is  concerned,  to  Schongauer's.  As  a  composi- 
tion, Diirer's  woodcut  from  the  Life  oj  the  Virgin^ 
is  simpler  and  more  "telling,"  in  that  certain  non- 
essentials have  been  eliminated;  but  could  we  well 
spare  so  beautiful  a  design  as  that  of  the  candela- 
brum which,  in  Schongauer's  engraving,  stands  at 
the  foot  of  the  bed? 

From  the  twelve  plates  of  the  Passion^  each  of 
which  repays  study,  it  is  not  easy  to  select  one  for 
reproduction.  The  Crucifixion^  a  subject  which 
Schongauer  engraved  no  less  than  six  times,  has  a 
poignant  charm;  and  for  sheer  beauty  the  Resur- 
rection is  among  the  most  significant  of  the  series. 
Pilate  Washing  His  Hands  has,  however,  a  double 
interest.  The  faces  of  Christ's  tormentors  and  of 
the  figures  standing  beside  and  to  the  left  of 
Pilate's  throne,  are  strongly  characterized,  por- 
trait-like heads,  in  marked  contrast  with  the  gentle- 

[351 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

ness  of  Christ,  and  the  weak  and  vacillating 
Pilate.  The  enthroned  Pilate  later  reappears  as 
the  Prophet  Daniel  in  the  series  of  Prophets  and 
Sibyls^  Florentine  engravings  in  the  Fine  Manner. 
We  have  already  referred  to  St.  John  on  the 
Island  of  Patmos  by  the  Master  E.  S.  A  more 
significant  contrast  between  the  work  of  the  earlier 
engraver  and  that  of  Schongauer  could  hardly  be 
found.  The  Master  E.  S.  gives  a  multiplicity  of 
objects,  animate  and  inanimate,  charming  and 
interesting  in  themselves,  but  distracting  from  the 
main  purpose  of  the  composition — witness  the  St. 
Christopher  crossing  the  river  in  the  middle  dis- 
tance, the  lion  and  the  terrified  horse  in  the  wood 
to  the  right,  the  swan  in  the  stream  to  the  left, 
and  the  life-like  birds  perched  upon  the  castle- 
crowned  cliff.  Schongauer  ehminates  all  these 
accessories.  One  vessel  and  two  small  boats  alone 
break  the  calm  expanse  of  the  unrufi^ed  sea.  Save 
for  the  two  plants  in  the  foreground  (which  betray 
the  influence  of  the  Master  of  the  Playing  Cards) 
the  ground  is  simply  treated  and  offers  little  to 
distract  our  attention  from  the  seated  figure  of  St. 
John,  who  faces  to  the  left  and  gazes  upwards  at 
the  Madonna  and  Child  in  glory.  The  eagle  bears 
a  strong  family  likeness  to  the  same  bird  in  the 
Design  for  a  Paten  by  the  Master  E.  S.  Schongauer 
has  here  drawn  a  tree,  not  bare,  as  is  his  wont, 

[36] 


MARTIN  SCHONGAUER.     ST.  JOHN  ON  THE  ISLAND 
OF  PATMOS 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  6K  x  4H  inches 
In  the  Kunsthalle,  Hamburg 


MARTIN  SCHONGAUER.     CHRIST  APPEARING  TO  THE 
MAGDALEN 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  6K  x  6yi  inches 
In  the  Kunsthalle,  Hamburg 


MARTIN  SCHONGAUER.     VIRGIN  SEATED  IN  A 
COURTYARD 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  6^  x  4^  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


MARTIN  SCHONGAUER.     ANGEL  OF  THE  ANNUNCIATION 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  6^i  x  4^2  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


GERMAN  ENGRAVING 

but  adorned  with  foliage  beautifully  disposed  and 
artistically  treated,  in  marked  contrast  to  the  con- 
ventional and  decorative  manner  of  the  Master 
E.  S.  and  his  predecessors. 

The  type  of  the  Redeemer,  which  Schongauer 
has  made  so  peculiarly  his  own,  is  nowhere  seen  to 
better  advantage  than  in  the  two  beautiful  plates 
of  the  Baptism  of  Christ  and  Christ  Appearing  to 
the  Magdalen.  Max  Geisberg  acclaims  the  last- 
named  as  Schongauer's  most  beautiful  engraving. 
"Here,  the  contents  of  the  composition  have  re- 
ceived an  embodiment,  the  fervor,  depth,  and  deli- 
cacy of  which  have  never  been  surpassed  in  art."* 
It  can,  however,  share  this  high  praise  with  the 
Virgin  Seated  in  a  Courtyard  and  the  Angel  of  the  An- 
nunciation. For  sheer  beauty,  these  plates  remain 
to  this  day  not  only  unsurpassed,  but  unequalled. 
What  quietude  and  restraint  there  is  in  the 
Virgin  Seated  in  a  Courtyard^  the  wall  back  of  her 
discreetly  bare,  the  grass  indicated  by  a  few  small 
but  significant  strokes,  while  the  branches  of  one 
little,  leafless  tree  form  an  exquisite  pattern  against 
the  untouched  sky!  By  contrast  one  of  Diirer's 
technical  masterpieces — the  Virgin  Seated  by  a  City 
Wall — seems  overworked  and  overloaded  with 
needless  accessories. 


*  Martin  Schongauer.      By  Dr.  Max  Geisberg.      The  Print-Collector's 
Quarterly.     Vol.  IV.     April,  1914.     p.  128. 

[41] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

The  Angel  of  the  Annunciation  marks  the  cul- 
mination of  Schongauer's  art  and  belongs  to  his 
most  mature  period.  Everything  not  absolutely 
necessary  for  a  clear  presentation  has  been  elimi- 
nated, h.  slight  shadow  upon  the  ground  gives 
solidity  to  the  figure.  All  else  is  blank.  The  art  of 
simplification  can  hardly  go  further,  and  were  one 
to  be  restricted  to  the  choice  of  a  single  print  by 
any  of  Diirer's  predecessors,  one  might  wisely 
select  the  Angel  of  the  Annunciation. 

That  Schongauer  was  equally  interested  in  things 
mundane  is  convincingly  proved  by  Peasants  Going 
to  Market.,  Goldsmith' s  Apprentices  Fightings  or  The 
Miller.  How  well  he  has  differentiated  between  the 
mother-ass,  filled  with  maternal  solicitude,  and  the 
woolly,  stocky,  and  somewhat  foolish  little  donkey 
which  follows,  while  the  miller  with  upraised  staff 
urges  her  onward. 

The  Crozier  and  the  Censer  furnish  unmistak- 
able proof,  were  such  needed,  that  as  a  goldsmith- 
designer,  no  less  than  as  an  engraver,  Schongauer 
is  entitled  to  the  loftiest  place  in  German  art. 
They  are  masterpieces,  alike  in  invention  and  in 
execution.  His  influence  was  not  confined  to  his 
contemporaries,  but  can  be  traced  in  many  ways, 
and  in  many  media,  long  after  his  death.  His 
School,  however,  produced  no  engraver  worthy, 
for  a  moment,  of  comparison  with  him. 

[42] 


MARTIN  SCHONGAUER.  CENSER 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  ii  K  x  8K  inches 


GERMAN  ENGRAVING 

The  Master  L  Cz  alone  seems  to  have  caught 
something  of  Schongauer's  spirit  while,  at  the  same 
time,  preserving  his  own  individuality.  The  face  of 
the  Redeemer  in  Christ  Ryitering  Jerusalem  is  rem- 
iniscent of  the  earlier  engraver;  and,  among  the 
Apostles  to  the  left,  two,  at  least,  are  taken,  with 
slight  modifications,  from  Schongauer's  Death  of  the 
Virgin. 

Christ  Tempted  has  a  singular  charm.  The  figure 
of  Satan,  realistically  treated,  is  an  interesting 
example  of  that  passion  for  the  grotesque  from 
which  even  the  greatest  artists  in  the  North  seemed 
unable  to  shake  themselves  wholly  free.  The  wood 
in  the  middle  distance,  to  the  left  of  Christ,  evinces 
a  close  study  of  natural  forms,  while  the  landscape 
takes  its  place  admirably  in  the  composition.  The 
excessive  rarity  of  engravings  by  L  Cz  alone  has 
prevented  them  from  being  appreciated  at  their 
true  worth.  They  are  original  in  composition,  full 
of  fantasy  and  charm.  Even  so  universal  an  artist 
as  Albrecht  Diirer  did  not  disdain  to  borrow,  from 
Christ  Tempted^  the  motive  of  the  mountain  goat 
gazing  downward,  which  reappears,  slightly  modi- 
fied, in  Adam  and  Eve^  his  masterpiece  of  the 
year  i  ^04. 


[45] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

GERMAN   ENGRAVING:   FROM  THE   BEGINNINGS 
TO  MARTIN  SCHONGAUER 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Le  Peintre  Graveur.  By  Adam  Bartsch.  1\  volumes.  Vienna:  1 803-1 821 . 
Volumes  6  and  10,  Early  German  Engravers. 

Les  deux  cents  Incunables  xylographiques  du  Departement  des 
EsTAMPES.  By  Henri  Bonchot.  Volume  i,  Text.  Volume  2,  Atlas  (191  repro- 
ductions). Paris:  Librairie  Centrale  des  Beaux-Arts.  1903. 
Geschichte  und  kritischer  Katalog  des  deutschen,  niederlandischen 
UND  franzosischen  Kupferstichs  im  XV.  Jahrhundert.  By  Max  Lehrs. 
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Die  altesten  deutschen  Spielkarten  des  konigi.ichen  Kupferstich- 
CABiNETS  zu  Dresden.  By  Max  Lehrs.  97  reproductions  on  29  plates. 
Dresden:  W.  Hoffmann.    1885. 

Katalog  der  im  germanischen  Museum  befindlichen  deutschen  Kup- 
FERSTiCHE  DES  XV.  Jahrhunderts.  By  Max  Lehrs.  i  original  engraving 
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Le  Peintre-Graveur.  By  J.  D.  Passavant.  6  volumes.  Leipzig:  Rudolph 
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Bas  et  EN  Allemagne,  jusqu'a    la  fin  du  quinzieme  siecle.      By  Jules 

Renouvier.    Brussels:  M.  Hayez.    i860. 

Die  Inkunabeln  des  Kupferstichs  im  Kgl.  Kabinet  zu  Munchen.    By 

Wilhelm  Schmidt.  32  reproductions.   Munich.    1887. 

Manuel   de    l'amateur  de  la  gravure  sur  bois  et  sur  metal  au  XV^ 

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Reproductions.  Berlin:  Albert  Cohn,  1 891-1900.    (Vol.  4  in  Leipzig:  O.  Har- 

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A  Descriptive  Catalogue  of  Early  Prints  in  the  British  Museum.    By 

William   Hughes   Wills  hire.     1   volumes.     22   reproductions.     London:  The 

Trustees.    1 879-1 883. 

Master  of  the  Playing  Cards  (flourished  1440-1450) 
Das   alteste    gestochene    Deutsche    Kartenspiel   vom    Meister    der 
Spielkarten  (vor  1446).    By  Max  Geisberg.    68  reproductions  on  1,2  plates. 
Strassburg:  J.  H.  Ed.  Heitz  (Heitz  &  Miindel).  1905.    (Studien  zur  deutschen 
Kunstgeschichte.    Part  66.) 

Master  of  the  Gardens  of  Love  (flourished  1445-1450) 

Der  Meister  der  Liebesgarten;  ein  Beitrag  zur  Geschichte  des 
altesten  Kupferstichs  in  den  Niederlanden.  By  Max  Lehrs.  28  repro- 
ductions on  10  plates.    Dresden:  Bruno  Schulze.    1893. 

[46] 


MASTER  L  Cz.     CHRIST  TEMPTED 

Size  of  the  original  engraving  8^x65  8  inches 


MASTER  L  Cz.     CHRIST  ENTERING  JERUSALEM 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  8^x7  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


GERMAN  ENGRAVING 

Master  E.  S.  (flourished  1450-1470) 

Der  Meister  E.  S.;  shin  Name,  seine  Heimat,  und  sein  Ende.  By  Peter 
P.  Albert.  20  reproductions  on  16  plates.  Strassburg:  J.  H.  Ed.  Heitz  (Heitz 
&  Miindel).    1911.    (Studien  zur  deutschen  Kunstgeschichte.    Part  1,37.) 

The  Master  E.  S.  and  the  "Ars  Moriendi";  A  Chapter  in  the  History 
OF  Engraving  During  the  Fifteenth  Century.  By  Lionel  Cust.  46  re- 
productions.   Oxford:  Clarendon  Press.    1898. 

Die  Anfange  des  deutschen  Kupferstiches  und  der  Meister  E.  S. 
By  Max  Geisberg.  121  reproductions  on  71  plates.  Leipzig:  Klinkhardt  & 
Biermann.    1909.    (Meister  der  Graphik.    Vol.  2.) 

Geschichte  und  kritischer  Katalog  des  deutschen,  niederlandischen 
UND  FRANZOsiscHEN  KuPFERSTicHS  iM  XV.  Jahrhundert.  By  Max  Lehrs. 
Vienna:  Gesellschaft  fiir  vervielfaltigende  Kunst.  1908-1910.  Volume  2. 
Master  E.  S.    With  portfolio  of  237  reproductions  on  92  plates. 

The  Playing  Cards  of  the  Master  E.  S.  of  1466.  Edited  by  Max  Lehrs. 
45  reproductions.  London:  Asher  &  Co.  1892.  (International  Chalcograph- 
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SCHONGAUER,  MaRTIN    (  I  445(  .?)-!  49I  ) 

ZwEi  datierte  Zeichnungen  Martin  Schongauers.  By  Sidney  Colvin. 
2  illustrations.  Jahrbuch  der  koniglichen  preussischen  Kunstsammlungen, 
Vol.  6,  pp.  69-74.    Berlin.    1885. 

Martin  Schongauer's  Kupferstiche.  By  Max  G.  Friedldnder.  5  illus- 
trations.  Zeitschrift  fiir  bildende  Kunst,  Vol.  26,  pp.  105-112.  Leipzig.   1915. 

Martin  Schongauer.  By  Max  Geisberg.  14  illustrations.  The  Print- 
Collector's  Quarterly,  Vol.  4,  No.  2,  pp.  102-129.    Boston.    191 4. 

Martin  Schongauer;  Nachbildungen  seiner  Kupferstiche.  Edited  by 
Max  Lehrs.  115  reproductions  on  72  plates.  Berlin:  Bruno  Cassirer.  1914. 
(Graphische  Gesellschaft.    Extraordinary  Publication  5.) 

ScHONGAUERSTUDiEN.  By  Wilhelm  Lubke.  3  illustrations.  Zeitschrift  fiir 
bildende  Kunst,  Vol.  16,  pp.  74-86.    Leipzig.    1881. 

Schongauer  und  der  Meister  des  Bartholomaus.  By  L.  Scheibler. 
Repertorium  fiir  Kunstwissenschaft,  Vol.  7,  pp.  31-68.  Berlin  and  Stutt- 
gart.   1884. 

Martin  Schongauer  als  Kupferstecher.  By  Woldemar  von  Seidlitz. 
Repertorium  fiir  Kunstwissenschaft,  Vol.  7,  pp.  169-182.  Berlin  and  Stutt- 
gart.   1884 

Martin  Schongauer  als  Kupferstecher.  By  Hans  Wendland.  32  repro- 
ductions.   Berlin:  Edmund  Meyer.  1907. 

Martin  Schongauer.  Eine  kritische  Untersuchung  seines  Lebens 
UND  seiner  Werke  nebst  einem  chronologischen  Verzeichnisse  seiner 
Kupferstiche.  By  Alfred  von  Wurzbach.  Vienna:  Manz'sche  K.  K.  Hof- 
verlags  und  Universitats  Buchhandlung.     1880. 

[49] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

Master  of  the  Banderoles  (flourished  c.  1464) 

Der  Meister  MIT  DEN  Bandrollen;  ein  Beitrag  zur  Geschichte  des 
ALTESTEN  KuPFERSTicHS  IN  Deutschland.  By  Max  Lehvs.  19  reproduc- 
tions on  7  plates.    Dresden:  W.  Hoffmann.    1886. 

Meckenem,  Israhel  van  (c.  1440-1503) 

Der  Meister  der  Berliner  Passion  und  Israhel  van  Meckenem.  By 
Max  Geisberg.  6  reproductions.  Strassburg:  J.  H.  Ed.  Heitz  (Heitz  & 
Miindel).  1903.  (Studien  zur  deutschen  Kunstgeschichte.  Part  42.) 
Verzeichnis  der  Kupferstiche  Israhels  van  Meckenem.  By  Max  Geis- 
berg. II  reproductions  on  9  plates.  Strassburg:  J.  H.  Ed.  Heitz  (Heitz  & 
Miindel).    1905.    (Studien  zur  deutschen  Kunstgeschichte.    Part  58.) 

Master    NV  /\    (flourished  c.  1470) 

Der  Meister   "^^  A  ;  ein  Kupferstecher  der  Zeit  Karls  des  Kuhnen. 

By  Max  Lehrs.     77  reproductions  on  31    plates.     Dresden:  W.  Hoffmann. 

1895. 

Stoss,  Veit  (c.  1450-C.  1533) 

Veit  Stoss;  Nachbildungen  seiner  Kupferstiche.  Edited  by  Engelbert 
Baumeister.  13  reproductions.  Berlin:  Bruno  Cassirer.  1913.  (Graphische 
Gesellschaft.    Publication  17.) 

Olmutz,  Wenzel  von  (flourished  1480-1500) 

Wenzel  von  Olmutz.     By   Max  Lehrs.     22   reproductions  on    11    plates. 

Dresden:   W.  Hoffmann.    i88g     (In  German.) 


[50) 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING: 
THE  FLORENTINES 

ENGRAVING  in  Italy  differs,  in  many  essen- 
tials, from  the  art  as  practised  in  Germany. 
Germany  may  claim  priority  in  point  of  time,  but 
it  is  doubtful  whether  the  Florentines — for  in 
Florence,  and  among  the  goldsmiths,  the  art  took 
its  rise  in  Italy — in  the  beginning  were  influenced 
by,  or  even  acquainted  with,  the  work  of  their 
northern  contemporaries.  In  Germany  the  designer 
and  the  engraver  were  one,  and  some  of  the  greatest 
masters  embodied  their  finest  conceptions  in  their 
prints.  We  may  truly  say  that  the  world-wide 
reputation  which  Diirer  and  Schongauer  have  en- 
joyed for  four  centuries  and  more,  rests  almost 
entirely  upon  their  engraved,  rather  than  upon 
their  painted,  work. 

In  Italy  it  was  otherwise.  There,  with  a  few  signal 
exceptions,  engraving  was  used  merely  as  a  con- 
venient method  of  multiplying  an  existing  design. 
It  may  be  that  we  owe  to  this  fact  both  the  color  of 
the  ink  used  in  these  early  Florentine  prints,  and  the 
method  of  taking  impressions.  This  would  seem,  in 
many  cases,  to  be  by  rubbing  rather  than  by  the 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

use  of  the  roller  press,  which  appears  to  have  been 
known  and  used  in  the  North  substantially  from 
the  very  beginning.  The  Florentine,  aiming  to 
duplicate  a  drawing  in  silver-point  or  wash,  would 
naturally  endeavor  to  approximate  the  color  of  his 
original.  Consequently  we  do  not  find  the  lus- 
trous black  impressions,  strongly  printed,  which 
are  the  prize  of  the  collector  of  early  German  en- 
gravings. 

Vasari's  story  of  the  invention  of  engraving  by 
Maso  Finiguerra  (1426-1464)  was  long  ago  dis- 
proved, and  for  a  time  it  seemed  as  though  Fini- 
guerra and  his  work  were  likely  to  be  consigned  to 
that  limbo  of  the  legendary  from  which  Baldini — at 
one  time  accredited  with  many  prints — is  only  just 
now  emerging.  Yet  Finiguerra,  although  not  the 
''inventor"  of  the  art,  is,  beyond  peradventure,  the 
most  important  influence  in  early  Italian  engraving, 
not  only  on  account  of  his  own  work  on  copper, 
but  still  more  through  the  Picture-Chronicle,  which 
served  as  an  inspiration  to  the  artists  working  in 
his  School  and  continuing  his  tradition  after  his 
death.  So  that  Vasari's  tale,  though  not  accurate 
in  the  matter  of  fact,  was  veracious  in  the  larger 
sense. 

The  Picture-Chronicle  is  a  book  of  drawings 
illustrating  the  History  of  the  World,  and  evidently 
proceeds  from  the  hand  and  workshop  of  a  Floren- 


ANONYMOUS  FLORENTINE,  XV  CENTURY.     PROFILE 
PORTRAIT  OF  A  LADY 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  8K  x  ^^A  inches 
In  the  Royal  Print  Room,  Berlin 


:-'^\. 


IWiife: 


H  re 

.     Q 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

tine  goldsmith-engraver  of  about  1460.  It  was 
acquired  by  the  British  Museum  from  Mr.  Ruskin 
in  1888.  The  drawings  are  in  pen  and  ink  and  wash, 
often  reinforced  with  open  pen-shading  like  that 
imitated  later  by  the  Broad  Manner  engravers. 
At  its  best  the  work  has  the  true  early  Renaissance 
combination  of  archaic  strength  with  attractive 
naivete — the  ornamental  detail  carried  out  with  a 
masterly  power  of  pen,  and  with  the  patient  delight 
of  one  who  is  by  instinct  and  training  above  all 
things  a  jeweler. 

Finiguerra's  fame  as  the  leading  worker  in  niello 
was  firmly  established  by  1450;  and  although  we 
cannot  assign  certainly  any  engraving  by  him  to  a 
date  earlier  than  1460,  there  is  a  group  of  Florentine 
primitives  which  may  be  placed  between  the  years 
1450  and  1 460,  thus  antedating  Finiguerra's  first 
plate  by  about  ten  years.  The  most  beautiful  of 
these  early  prints  in  conception,  and  the  purest  in 
execution,  is  the  Profile  Portrait  of  a  Lady^  a  single 
impression  of  which  has  come  down  to  us  and  is 
now  in  Berlin.  In  style  it  recalls  the  paintings  of 
Piero  della  Francesca,  Verrocchio,  Uccello,  or  Pol- 
laiuolo,  and  although  it  would  be  unwise  to  attrib- 
ute it  to  any  known  master,  there  is  a  sensitive 
quality  in  the  drawing,  and  a  restraint,  which  dif- 
ferentiates it  from  any  other  print  of  this  period. 

Among  the  engravings  which  may  be  by  Fini- 

[55] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

guerra  himself,  one  of  the  most  interesting  is  the 
plate  o{  Wild  Animals  Hunting  and  Fighting,  where- 
in we  see  a  number  of  motives  taken  directly  from 
the  Picture-Chronicle — motives  which  reappear 
again  and  again  in  works  undoubtedly  by  other 
hands.  This  print,  as  also  the  Encounter  of  a  Hunt- 
ing Party  with  a  Family  of  Wild  Folk,  is  unique.  In 
the  last-named  we  see  a  number  of  motives  re- 
peated from  the  Wild  Animals  Hunting  and  Fight- 
ing: such  as  the  boar  being  pulled  down  by  two 
hounds,  the  hound  chasing  a  hare,  in  the  upper 
right  corner;  and  the  dog,  slightly  to  the  left,  de- 
vouring the  entrails  of  yet  another  hare. 

The  Road  to  Calvary  and  the  Crucifixion  is  a  far 
more  elaborate  and  important  composition,  and  in 
this  engraving  we  see  that  which  is  especially  note- 
worthy in  the  Judgment  Hall  of  Pilate — the  largest 
and  most  important  of  all  the  Fine  Manner  prints 
— -the  goldsmith's  love  of  ornament.  In  the  Judg- 
me?it  Hall  of  Pilate  the  head-dresses,  and  especially 
the  armor,  are  highly  elaborate,  while  the  architec- 
ture itself  is  overlaid  with  ornate  decoration  di- 
rectly drawn  from  the  Picture-Chronicle.  In  the 
only  known  impression  the  plate  seems  to  have 
been  re-worked,  in  the  Broad  Manner,  by  a  later 
hand. 

Somewhat  later  in  date,  by  an  engraver  of  the 
Finiguerra  School,  is  the  Triumphal  Procession  of 

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ANONYMOUS  FLORENTINE,  XV  CENTURY.    JUPITER 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  i^S/g  x  8K  inches 
In  the  British  Museum 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

Bacchus  and  Ariadne^  the  most  joyous  of  all  Flor- 
entine engravings.  The  original  design  was  attrib- 
uted at  one  time  to  Botticelli;  and  although,  as 
Herbert  P.  Home  has  shown,  it  cannot  be  by 
this  master,  it  is  similar  in  style  to  his  compositions. 
Whatever  the  immediate  original,  it  shows  marked 
traces  of  classical  influences,  and  its  motive  is 
directly  derived  from  antique  sculpture — a  sar- 
cophagus in  all  probability.  "The  splendid  design 
has  suffered  not  only  from  the  feebleness  of  the 
engraving,  but  also  from  the  florid  manner  in  which 
the  engraver  has  exaggerated  some  of  the  decora- 
tive details  and  added  others  ...  In  spite  of 
the  feebleness  of  its  execution  it  remains  an  incom- 
parably greater  work  of  art  than  any  other  print 
in  the  Fine  Manner."* 

The  Fine  Manner,  in  which  all  of  the  engravings 
hitherto  mentioned  are  executed,  owes  its  name  to 
the  method  employed.  The  engraver  has  incised 
his  outlines  upon  the  plate — probably  unbeaten 
copper  or  some  even  softer  metal — and  for  his 
shading  has  employed  a  system  of  delicate  strokes, 
laid  close  to  one  another  and  overlaid  with  two, 
and,  at  times,  three,  sets  of  cross-hatching.  Such 
engravings,  when  printed,  as  is  usually  the  case,  in 
a  greenish  or  grayish  ink,  give  a  result  similar  to  a 

*  Sandro    Botticelli.     By   Herbert  P.  Home.    London:    George    Bell  &: 
Sons.     1908.    p.  84. 

[59] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

wash  drawing.  In  the  Broad  Manner  the  style  of 
engraving  is  based  upon  that  of  pen  drawing,  with 
open,  diagonal  shade  strokes  and  without  cross- 
hatching.  The  Broad  Manner  was  finally  developed 
by  PoUaiuolo  and  Mantegna,  who  modified  it  by  a 
series  of  delicate  lines  laid  at  an  acute  angle  to  the 
heavier  shadings,  blending  the  main  lines  into  a 
harmonious  whole. 

''None  of  the  sciences  that  descended  from  an- 
tiquity," writes  Arthur  M.  Hind,*  "possessed  a 
firmer  hold  on  the  popular  imagination  of  the 
Middle  Ages  than  that  of  Astrology.  That  science 
took  as  its  foundation  the  ancient  conception  of 
the  universe,  with  the  earth  as  the  centre  round 
which  all  the  heavenly  bodies  revolved  in  the  space 
of  a  day  and  a  night.  Encircling  the  earth  were 
the  successive  spheres  of  water,  air,  fire,  the  seven 
planets  (Moon,  Mercury,  Venus,  Sun,  Mars,  Ju- 
piter, Saturn),  the  firmament  with  the  constella- 
tions (the  coelum  crystallinum)^  and  the  Primum 
Mobile.  To  each  of  the  planets  were  ascribed  at- 
tributes according  to  the  traditional  character  of 
the  cieity  whose  name  it  bore,  and  these  attributes 
were  regarded  as  transmissible  under  certain  con- 
ditions to  mankind.  The  influence  of  the  planets 
depended  on  their  position  in  the  heavens  in  re- 

*  Catalogue  of  Early  Italian  Engravings  ...  in  the  British  Museum. 
By  Arthur  Mayger  Hind.    London.     1910.    pp.  49-50. 

[60] 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

spect  of  the  various  constellations,  with  which  each 
had  different  relations.  Each  planet  had  what  was 
called  its  'house'  in  one  of  the  constellations,  and 
according  to  its  position  relative  to  these  was  said 
to  be  in  the  'ascendant'  or  'descendant'.  In  regard 
to  individual  human  beings  the  date  of  birth  was 
the  decisive  point,  and  the  degree  of  influence 
transmitted  from  the  planets  depended  on  the  re- 
spective degree  of  'ascendance'  or  'descendance'  at 
the  particular  epoch." 

The  planets  and  their  influences  afforded  sub- 
ject matter  for  many  artists  of  the  fifteenth  and 
sixteenth  centuries,  and  the  finest  and  most  im- 
portant series  is  that  engraved  in  the  Fine  Manner 
by  an  artist  of  the  Finiguerra  School,  who  has,  as 
usual,  drawn  directly  upon  the  Picture-Chronicle 
for  his  ornamental  accessories.  We  can  reproduce 
two  only  from  the  set  of  seven — Jupiter  and  Mer- 
cury. The  inscription  beneath  Jupiter  reads,  in 
part,  as  follows:  "Jupiter  is  a  male  planet  in  the 
sixth  sphere,  warm  and  moist,  temperate  by  nature, 
and  of  gentle  disposition;  he  is  sanguine,  cheerful, 
liberal,  eloquent;  he  loves  fine  clothes,  is  handsome 
and  ruddy  of  aspect,  and  looks  toward  the  Earth. 
Tin  is  his  metal;  his  days  are  Sunday  and  Thurs- 
day, with  the  first,  eighth,  fifteenth  and  twenty- 
fourth  hours;  his  night  is  that  of  Wednesday;  he 
is  friendly   to  the  Moon,  hostile  to  Mars    .    .    ." 

[6i] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

In  the  landscape  we  again  meet  with  several  of 
the  stock  Finiguerra  motives,  the  muzzled  hounds, 
the  dog  chasing  the  hare,  etc.  Of  especial  interest 
is  the  group  at  the  right — "wing-bearing  Dante  who 
flew  through  Hell,  through  the  starry  Heavens  and 
o'er  the  intermediate  hill  of  Purgatory  beneath  the 
beauteous  brows  of  Beatrice;  and  Petrarch  too, 
who  tells  again  the  tale  of  Cupid's  triumph;  and 
the  man  who,  in  ten  days,  portrays  a  hundred 
stories  (Boccaccio)." 

Mercury — "eloquent  and  inventive  .  .  .  slender 
of  figure,  tall  and  well  grown,  with  delicate  lips. 
Quicksilver  is  his  metal" — sets  forth  various  appli- 
cations of  the  arts  and  sciences.  Especially  inter- 
esting is  the  goldsmith's  shop  at  the  left,  where  we 
see  an  engraver  actually  at  work  upon  a  plate. 
The  goldsmith  is  seated,  his  apprentice  behind  him, 
as  a  prospective  purchaser  examines  a  richly  orna- 
mented vessel.  In  the  foreground  a  sculptor  is 
chiseling  his  statue,  while,  standing  above,  on  a 
scaffolding,  a  fresco  painter  is  actively  at  work — 
a  record  of  the  Florence  of  1460  or  thereabouts, 
full  of  interest  for  us. 

To  a  slightly  later  date,  1465-1470,  belong  the 
group  of  Fine  Manner  prints,  known  as  the  Otto 
Prints,  also  emanating  from  the  Finiguerra  work- 
shop. They  are  not  a  series,  in  any  true  sense,  and 
owe  their  name — also  their  fortunate  preservation 

[62] 


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ANONYMOUS   FLORENTINE,   XV   CENTURY.     MERCURY 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  12K  x  8K  inches 
In  the  British  Museum 


— <<^^l^- 


^^§jt-^ 


ANONYMOUS  FLORENTINE,  XV  CENTURY.     LADY 
WITH  A  UNICORN 


Size  of  the  original  engraving.  6K  inches  in  diameter 
In  the  British  Museum 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

— to  the  accidental  circumstance  of  their  having 
belonged  at  one  time  to  Peter  Ernst  Otto,  a  mer- 
chant and  collector  of  Leipzig.  The  purpose  served 
by  these  prints — twenty-four  in  all — was  the  deco- 
ration of  box  lids,  either  as  patterns  to  be  copied, 
in  the  case  of  metal  caskets,  or  to  be  colored  and 
pasted  on  the  lids  of  wooden  boxes.  The  escutch- 
eons are  usually  left  blank,  to  be  filled  in  by  hand 
with  the  device  of  the  donor  or  the  recipient,  or 
with  some  appropriate  sentiment. 

In  the  print  entitled  Two  Heads  in  Medallions 
and  Two  Hunting  Scenes  we  again  meet  with  the 
animal  motives  taken  from  the  Picture-Chronicle. 
One  of  the  most  charming  is  the  Lady  with  a 
Unicorn  (Chastity),  in  its  arrangement  suggest- 
ive of  the  beautiful  drawing  by  Leonardo  da  Vinci 
in  the  British  Museum;  and  its  symbolic  meaning 
is  doubtless  the  same.  "The  unicorn,"  writes  Leo- 
nardo in  his  "Bestiarius,"  "is  distinguished  for  lack 
of  moderation  and  self-control.  His  passionate  love 
of  young  women  makes  him  entirely  forget  his 
shyness  and  ferocity.  Oblivious  of  all  dangers,  he 
comes  straight  to  the  seated  maiden  and  falling 
asleep  in  her  lap  is  then  caught  by  the  hunter." 
The  ermine,  likewise  a  sign  of  chastity,  is  to  be 
seen  at  the  right,  gazing  upward  into  Marietta's 
face. 

Still  later  than  the  Otto  prints,  and  greatly  in- 

[6^] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

ferior  to  them  in  execution,  are  the  three  illustra- 
tions for  II  Monte  Sancto  di  Dio,  of  1477;  and  the 
nineteen  engravings  for  Dante's  Divina  Commedia^ 
with  Landino's  Commentary,  of  148 1.  //  Monte 
Sancto  di  Dio  is  the  first  book  in  Italy  or  in  Germany 
in  which  there  appear  illustrations  from  engraved 
plates  printed  on  the  text  page.  This  entailed 
much  additional  labor,  and  was  soon  discon- 
tinued in  favor  of  the  wood-block,  which  could  be 
printed  simultaneously  with  the  letterpress,  and 
was  not  taken  up  again  until  nearly  the  end  of  the 
sixteenth  century. 

Alike  by  tradition  and  internal  evidence,  Botti- 
celli is  unquestionably  the  author  of  the  Dante 
designs;  but  no  artist  has  been  suggested  as  the 
probable  designer  of  the  three  illustrations  for 
//  Monte  Sancto  di  Dio.  In  the  first  illustration  the 
costume  and  general  attitude  of  the  young  gallant 
to  the  left  are  strongly  reminiscent  of  the  Otto 
prints.  The  lower  portion  of  the  plate  shows  all  the 
characteristics  of  the  Fine  Manner,  but  the  angel 
heads  are  treated  in  a  simpler  and  more  open  linear 
method.  The  Christian  s  Ascent  to  the  Glory  of  Para- 
dise is  allegorically  represented  by  a  ladder  placed 
firmly  in  the  ground  of  widespread  Knowledge  and 
Humility,  and  reaching  up  to  the  triple  mountain 
of  Faith,  Hope,  and  Charity,  on  the  summit  of 
which  stands  the  Saviour.  This  ladder  is  called  Per- 

[66] 


s-       P 


C     S 


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Q  2 

Z  Q 

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o 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

severance,  one  of  its  sides  being  Prayer,  the  other 
Sacrament.  It  has  eleven  steps:  Prudence,  Tem- 
perance, Fortitude,  Justice,  etc. 

The  second  iUustration  depicts  the  glory  of  Para- 
dise; the  third  the  punishment  of  Hell,  the  main 
motives  of  the  last-named  being  adapted  from  the 
fresco  attributed  to  Orcagna,  in  the  Campo  Santo 
at  Pisa. 

In  the  illustrations  to  the  Divina  Commedia^  of 
148 1,  there  is  little  left  of  the  beauty  which  the 
original  designs  must  have  possessed.  They  are, 
indeed,  "disguised  into  puerility  by  the  feebleness 
of  the  engraver";  but,  none  the  less,  they  remain, 
with  the  exception  of  Botticelli's  superb  series  of 
drawings  on  vellum,  in  Berlin  and  in  the  Vatican, 
unquestionably  the  best,  one  might  say  the  only^ 
satisfactory  illustrations  of  Dante's  text.  No  known 
copy  contains  more  than  the  first  three  engravings 
printed  directly  upon  the  page  itself.  In  every 
other  case,  where  a  greater  number  of  illustrations 
appear,  they  are  printed  separately  and  pasted  in 
place,  indicating  the  difficulty  experienced  by  the 
Renaissance  printer  in  making  his  plates  register 
with  the  letterpress. 

The  first  print  of  the  series  shows  Dante  lost  in 
the  wood,  emerging  therefrom,  and  his  meeting 
with  Virgil — three  subjects  on  a  single  plate.  The 
second  represents  Dante  and  Virgil  with  the  Vision 

[69] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

of  Beatrice.  Dante  and  Virgil  are  seen  twice — first 
to  the  left,  where  Dante  doubts  whether  to  follow 
the  guidance  of  Virgil  further,  and  again  on  the 
slope  of  the  hill  to  the  right,  where  Virgil  relates 
how  the  vision  of  Beatrice  appeared  to  him.  Near 
the  summit  of  the  rocky  mountain  is  seen  the 
entrance  to  Hell. 

''Of  the  extant  engravings  in  the  Broad  Manner, 
unquestionably  the  most  remarkable  is  the  large 
print  on  two  sheets  of  the  Assumption  oj the  Virgin^ 
after  Botticelli.  The  original  design  [no  longer 
known  to  exist],  whether  drawing  or  painting,  from 
which  this  engraving  was  taken,  must  have  been 
among  the  grandest  and  most  vigorous  works  of 
the  last  period  of  Botticelli's  art.  The  large  and 
rugged  treatment  of  the  figures  of  the  apostles, 
their  strange  mane-like  hair  and  beards,  their  fer- 
vent and  agitated  gestures  and  attitudes,  lend  to 
this  part  of  the  design  a  forcible  and  primitive 
character,  which  recalls,  though  largely,  perhaps, 
in  an  accidental  fashion,  the  grand  and  impressive 
art  of  Andrea  del  Castagno.  Not  less  vigorous  in 
conception,  but  of  greater  beauty  of  form  and 
movement,  is  the  figure  of  the  Virgin,  and  the 
motive  and  arrangement  of  the  angels  who  form  a 
'mandorla'  around  her  are  among  the  most  lovely 
and  imaginative  of  the  many  inventions  of  the  kind 

[70] 


ANONYMOUS  FLORENTINE,  XV  CENTURY.     ASSUMPTION 

OF  THE  VIRGIN  (After  Botticelli) 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  32^8  x  22K  inches 

In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


|Q  ueOo  e colui  chtl  mondo  cbKimaam 
Artia^o  cKotne  uedi  &  ued  mi  mcgho 
(^uando  hatuo'cfiOTntnoflrro  fignore 


E  I  nicqu€iJocio  &  di  lafciuu  Kumj 
'Nutntodi  penfierdolci  fecfonui 
Eacto  fignor'Srdio  da^aiw  uaf;;^ 


ANONYMOUS  FLORENTINE,  XV  CENTURY.     TRIUMPH  OF 
LOVE.     FROM  THE  TRIUMPHS  OF  PETRARCH. 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  lo^g  x  6K  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

wliich  Botticelli  has  left  us."*  In  the  distant  valley 
is  a  view  of  Rome  showing  the  Pantheon,  the  Col- 
umn of  Trajan,  the  Colosseum,  and  other  buildings. 

If  the  Assumption  of  the  Virgiyi  is  the  noblest 
print  in  the  Broad  Manner,  the  Triumphs  of  Pe- 
trarch— a  set  of  six  prints — may  be  said  to  possess 
the  greatest  charm,  not  less  by  its  subject  than  by 
its  treatment.  Petrarch  first  saw  Laura  on  April  6, 
1327,  in  the  Church  of  Santa  Clara  at  Avignon,  and 
"in  the  same  city,  on  the  same  6th  day  of  the  same 
month  of  April,  in  the  year  1348,  the  bright  light 
of  her  life  was  taken  away  from  the  light  of  this 
earth."  The  poet's  aim  in  composing  these  Trionfi 
is  the  same  which  he  proposed  to  himself  in  the 
Canzoniere-.  namely,  "to  return  in  thought,  from 
time  to  time,  now  to  the  beginning,  now  to  the 
progress,  and  now  to  the  end  of  his  passion,  taking 
by  the  way  frequent  opportunities  of  rendering 
praise  and  honor  to  the  single  and  exalted  object  of 
his  love.  To  reach  this  aim  he  devised  a  description 
of  man  in  his  various  conditions  of  life,  wherein 
he  might  naturally  find  occasion  to  speak  of  him- 
self and  of  his  Laura. 

"Man  in  his  first  stage  of  youth  is  the  slave  of 
appetites,  which  may  all  be  included  under  the 
generic  name  of  Love,  or  Self-Love.    But  as  he 

*  Sandro  Botticelli.  By  Herbert  P.  Home.  London:  George  Bell  & 
Sons.     1908.    p.  289. 

I73] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

gains  understanding,  he  sees  the  impropriety  of 
such  a  condition,  so  that  he  strives  advisedly  against 
those  appetites  and  overcomes  them  by  means  of 
Chastity,  that  is,  by  denying  himself  the  oppor- 
tunity of  satisfying  them.  Amid  these  struggles  and 
victories  Death  overtakes  him  and  makes  victors 
and  vanquished  equal  by  taking  them  all  out  of  the 
world.  Nevertheless,  it  has  no  power  to  destroy  the 
memory  of  a  man,  who  by  illustrious  and  honorable 
deeds  seeks  to  survive  his  own  death.  Such  a  man 
truly  lives  through  a  long  course  of  ages  by  means 
of  his  Fame.  But  Time  at  length  obliterates  all 
memory  of  him,  and  he  finds,  in  the  last  resort,  that 
his  only  sure  hope  of  living  forever  is  by  joy  in 
God  and  by  partaking  with  God  in  his  blessed 
Eternity. 

*'Thus  Love  triumphs  over  man.  Chastity  over 
Love,  and  Death  over  both  alike;  Fame  triumphs 
over  Death,  Time  over  Fame,  and  Eternity  over 
Time."* 

With  the  exception  of  the  first  plate.  The  Tri- 
umph of  Love^  none  of  these  engravings  illustrates, 
in  any  strict  sense  of  the  word,  the  text  of  Pe- 
trarch's poem.  It  is  the  spirit  which  the  engraver 
has  interpreted.   Who  may  have  been  the  designer 

*  Le  Rime  di  Francesco  Petrarca  con  I'interpreta^ione  di  Giacomo 
Leopardi  .  .  .  e  gli  argomenti  di  A.  Marsand.  Florence.  1839-  p.  866. 
Translation  in,  Petrarch:  His  Life  and  Times.  By  H.  C.  Hollway-Calthrop. 
London.     1907.    pp.  41-42. 

[74] 


!n  canipo  iiei-dcuncit'iitdo  hetrncUirio'     L  oco  ann.uci-a  ■'> 


ANONYMOUS  FLORENTINE,  XV  CENTURY.    TRIUMPH  OF 
CHASTITY.    FROM  THE  TRIUMPHS  OF  PETRARCH 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  lo  x  6^8  inches 
In  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University 


r- 


SIBULALIB 
CA 


ECCEVENIENTEMDieA^ 
r^ET  LATEMTIAAPERIEKT 
grEM  TENfBlTGRFMIO 
GENTlVMREGlfJA 


I IDI  VEPwPvA^lLfET  TE  RNO  SIGN  OKI 
LYME  DARAALIE  COSE.NASCOSfc 
EliGAMl  ISCORA  DELHOSTROERRORE 
FAKAilSlNAGOGE  LVMINOSE 
ESOCVERA:  EELABRAALPECH  ATORE 
EF[E  STADCRADITVfE  LE CHOSE 
ENGRENBOALtAE^[NAD£UE  GEMTE 
SEDRAXiYESTO  RE  SANTO  EV!\/ENrE 


ANONYMOUS  FLORENTINE,  XV  CENTURY.    LIBYAN  SIBYL 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  7  x  4'i  inches 
In  the  British  Museum 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

we  know  not,  but  they  show  certain  affinities  to  the 
work  of  Pesellino  and  Baldovinetti. 

In  the  first  plate,  Cupid,  the  bHnd  archer,  with 
flame-tipped  arrow,  is  poised  upon  a  ball  rising 
from  a  flaming  vase,  the  base  of  which,  in  its  turn, 
rests  upon  flame.  Jupiter(?),  chained,  is  seated  in 
the  front  of  the  car,  while  Samson,  bearing  a 
column,  walks  upon  the  further  side.  Four  pran- 
cing steeds  draw  the  car;  behind.  Love's  victims 
follow  in  endless  procession.  In  the  second  plate. 
Chastity  stands  upon  an  urn;  in  front  of  her  kneels 
Cupid,  still  blindfolded,  with  his  broken  arrow  be- 
side him.  Two  unicorns,  symbols  of  chastity,  draw 
the  car,  while  upon  the  banner  borne  by  the  maiden 
at  the  extreme  right  there  appears  the  symbolic 
ermine.  Then  follow  in  order  the  Triumphs  of 
Deaths  of  Fame^  of  Time^  and  of  Eternity. 

This  series  of  illustrations  reappears,  somewhat 
modified  and  simplified,  in  the  form  of  woodcuts, 
in  the  editions  of  the  Trionfi  published  in  Venice 
in  1488,  1490,  1492,  and  in  Florence  in  1499. 

We  have  already  referred  to  the  Evangelists  and 
Apostles  engraved  by  the  German,  Master  E.  S.  of 
1 466.  It  is  from  him  that  the  anonymous  Floren- 
tine engraver  borrowed  his  figures,  in  many  cases 
leaving  the  form  of  the  drapery  unchanged  but 
enriching  it  with  elaborate  designs  in  the  manner 
of  Finiguerra.     The  Prophet  Ezekiel  is  thus  com- 

[77J 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

pounded  of  St.  John  and  St.  Peter^  while  Amos  is 
copied  in  reverse  from  St.  Paul.  The  seated  figure 
of  Daniel^  in  its  turn,  is  derived  from  Martin 
Schongauer's  engraving,  Christ  Before  Pilate^  but 
the  throne  upon  which  he  is  seated  is  strongly 
reminiscent  of  the  Picture-Chronicle,  and  like- 
wise recalls  Botticelli's  early  painting  o{  Fortitude. 
The  Tiburtiyie  Sibyl  is  derived  from  St.  Matthew^ 
who,  in  changing  his  position,  has  likewise  changed 
his  sex.  The  precedent  thus  established  has  been 
followed  by  St.  Joh?i^  transformed  into  the  Libyan 
Sibyl  in  the  Fine  Manner,  with  the  addition  of  a 
flying  veil,  to  the  right,  copied  from  the  Woman 
with  the  Escutcheon^  also  by  the  Master  E.  S.  In  the 
Broad  Manner  print  the  figure  of  this  Sibyl  gains 
in  dignity  by  the  elimination  of  much  superfluous 
ornament  upon  her  outer  garment,  and  from  the 
fact  that  she  now  sits  in  a  more  upright  posture, 
the  Fine  Manner  print  still  suggesting  the  crouch- 
ing attitude  of  its  Northern  prototype.  It  is  to  the 
influence,  if  not  to  the  hand,  of  Botticelli  that  such 
improvement  is  most  likely  due. 

The  twenty-four  Prophets  and  the  twelve  Sibyls^ 
engraved  both  in  the  Fine  and  in  the  Broad  Manner 
of  the  Finiguerra  School,  are  individually  and  col- 
lectively among  the  most  delightful  productions  of 
Italian  art.  It  was  doubtless  as  illustrations  of 
mystery  plays  or  pageants  in  Florence  that  this 

[78I 


12:-^ 


ANONYMOUS  NORTH  ITALIAN,  XV  CENTURY.    THE 
GENTLEMAN.    FROM  THE  TAROCCHI   PRINTS 

(E  Series) 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  jH  x  4  inches 

In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


##*»##  ^  ^Mimmmmmf^m^ 


ANONYMOUS  NORTH  ITALIAN,  XV  CENTURY.     CLIO. 

FROM  THE  TAROCCHI  PRINTS  (S  Series) 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  jH  x  4  inches 

In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING        ^ 

series  of  engravings  was  designed,  and  we  are  able 
to  reconstruct  from  the  Triumphs  of  Pety^arch^  and 
from  these  prints,  a  Florentine  street  pageant  at 
its  loveliest. 

However  great  their  beauty  and  however  strong 
the  fascination  which  they  exert,  they  have  a  rival 
in  the  series  of  fifty  instructive  prints,  which,  for 
many  years,  were  miscalled  the  Tarocchi  Cards  of 
Mantegna.  Tarocchi  cards  they  are  not,  and  of 
Mantegna's  influence,  direct  or  indirect,  there 
would  seem  to  be  no  trace  whatsoever.  They  are 
of  North  Italian  origin  and  are  the  work,  in  all 
probability,  of  some  anonymous  Venetian  en- 
graver, working  from  Venetian  or  Ferrarese  origi- 
nals, about  1 465 — contemporary,  therefore,  with 
the  Florentine  engravings  o{  t\\Q  Prophets  and  Sibyls. 
Forming,  apparently,  a  pictorial  cyclopaedia  of  the 
mediaeval  universe,  with  its  systematic  classifica- 
tion of  the  various  powers  of  Heaven  and  Earth, 
they  divide  themselves  into  five  groups  of  ten  cards 
each.  First  we  have  the  ranks  and  conditions  of 
men  from  Beggar  to  Pope;  next  Apollo  and  the  nine 
Muses;  then  the  Liberal  Arts,  with  the  addition 
of  Poetry,  Philosophy,  and  Theology,  in  order  to 
make  up  the  ten;  next  the  Seven  Virtues,  the  set 
being  brought  up  to  the  required  number  by  the 
addition  of  Chronica^  the  genius  of  Time,  Cosmico^ 
the  genius  of  the  Universe,  and  Iliaco^  the  genius 

[81] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

of  the  Sun.  The  fifth  group  is  based  on  the  Seven 
Planets,  together  with  the  Sphere  of  the  Fixed 
Stars  and  the  Primum  Mobile,  which  imparts  its 
own  revolving  motion  to  all  the  spheres  within  it; 
and  enfolding  all  the  Empyrean  Sphere,  the  abode 
of  Heavenly  Wisdom. 

Much  wisdom  and  many  words  have  been  ex- 
pended upon  the  still  unsolved  riddle  as  to  which 
of  the  two  sets,  known  respectively  as  the  E  series 
and  the  S  series  (from  the  letters  which  appear  in 
the  lower  left-hand  corners  of  the  ten  cards  of  the 
Sorts  and  Coyiditions  of  Men)  may  claim  priority  of 
date.  Both  series  are  in  the  Fine  Manner,  the  out- 
lines clearly  defined,  the  shadings  and  modelling 
indicated  with  delicate  burin  strokes,  crossed  and 
re-crossed  so  as  to  give  a  tonal  eflect.  These  delicate 
strokes  soon  wore  cut  in  printing,  and  the  struc- 
tural lines  of  the  figures  then  emerge  in  all  their 
beauty.  It  may  seem  absurd  that  one  should  ad- 
mire impressions  from  plates  obviously  worn,  but 
the  critic  would  do  well  to  suspend  his  condemna- 
tion, since  the  Tarocchi  Prints  present  many  and 
manifold  forms  of  beauty — in  the  early  impressions 
a  delicate  and  bloom-like  quality;  in  certain  some- 
what later  proofs,  a  charm  of  line  which  recalls  the 
art  of  the  Far  East. 

The  Gentleman  is  the  fifth  in  order  in  the  first 
group  of  the  Sorts  and  Conditions  of  Men^  and  is 

182] 


Nj/S;  1  2.'l."2:i  I  7-7LT 


3 


,,^..  "^^A^i 


i^' 


^i^^. 


M  .#, 


SOL  xxxxini 


ANONYMOUS  NORTH  ITALIAN,  XV  CENTURY.    THE  SUN. 

FROM  THE  TAROCCHI  PRINTS  (E  Series) 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  yys  x  4  inches 

In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


A  OCTAVASFm\  XXXX\/m  148, 


ANONYMOUS  NORTH  ITALIAN,  XV  CENTURY.     ANGEL  OF 
THE  EIGHTH  SPHERE.     FROM  THE  TAROCCHI  PRINTS 

(E  Series) 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  -jyi  x  4  inches 

In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

from  the  so-called  E  series  (claimed  by  Sir  Sidney 
Colvin  and  Mr.  Arthur  M.  Hind,  of  the  British 
Museum,  to  be  the  earlier  of  the  two  sets).  The 
sequence  runs:  (i)  The  Beggar,  (2)  The  Servant, 
(3)  The  Artisan,  (4)  The  Merchant,  (5)  The  Gen- 
tleman, (6)  The  Knight,  (7)  The  Doge,  (8)  The 
King,  (9)  The  Emperor,  (10)  The  Pope. 

Clio  is  the  ninth  of  the  Muses  and  is  from  the 
S  series  (placed  first  in  point  of  time,  by  Kristeller, 
and  about  ten  years  later  than  the  E  series,  by  the 
British  Museum  authorities). 

The  Sun  naturally  finds  his  place  in  the  group  of 
Planets  and  Spheres.  There  is  a  delightful  and 
childish  touch  in  the  way  in  which  Phceton  is  pic- 
tured as  a  little  boy  falling  headlong  into  the  river 
Po,  which  conveniently  flows  immediately  beneath 
him.  To  this  group  belongs  likewise  the  Angel  of  the 
Eighth  Sphe?r^  the  Sphere  of  the  Fixed  Stars,  one 
of  the  loveliest  prints  in  the  entire  set,  both  in 
arrangement  and  in  execution. 

Nothing  could  be  in  greater  contrast  to  the  grace- 
fulness of  such  a  print  as  the  above  than  the  Battle 
of  Naked  Men  by  Antonio  Pollaiuolo,  "the  stu- 
pendous Florentine" — if  one  may  borrow  Dante's 
title;  but,  for  the  moment,  we  will  hold  Pollaiuolo 
and  his  one  engraving  in  reserve  while  we  glance  at 
the  work  of  Christofano  Robetta,  who,  born  in 
Florence  in  1462,  was  consequently  the  junior  of 

[85] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

PoUaiuolo  by  thirty  years.  As  an  engraver,  Robetta 
is  inferior  to  the  anonymous  master  to  whom  we 
owe  the  E  series  of  the  Tarocchi  prints.  His  style 
is  somewhat  dry,  and  the  individual  lines  are  lack- 
ing in  beauty;  but  his  plates  have  that  indefinable 
and  indescribable  fascination  and  charm  which  is 
the  peculiar  possession  of  Italian  engraving  and  of 
the  Florentine  masters  in  particular.  The  shaping 
influences  which  determined  his  choice  and  treat- 
ment of  subject  are  Botticelli,  and,  in  a  much 
larger  measure,  Filippino  Lippi,  though  only  in  a 
few  cases  can  he  be  shown  to  have  worked  directly 
from  that  painter's  designs.  The  Adoration  of  the 
Magi  is  obviously  inspired  by  Filippino  Lippi's 
painting  in  the  Uffizi,  though  whether  Robetta 
actually  worked  from  the  painting  itself,  or,  as 
seems  more  probable,  translated  one  of  Filippino's 
drawings,  is  an  interesting  question.  The  fact  that 
the  engraving  is  in  reverse  of  the  painting  proves 
nothing;  but  there  are  so  many  points  of  difference 
between  them — notably  the  introduction  of  the 
charming  group  of  three  angels  above  the  Virgin 
and  Child — that  one  can  hardly  think  Robetta 
would  have  needlessly  made  so  many  and  impor- 
tant modifications  of  the  painting  itself,  if  a  drawing 
had  been  available.  It  is  interesting,  though  of 
minor  importance,  that  the  hat  of  the  King  to 
the  right,  which  lies  on  the  ground,  is  copied  in 

[86] 


CRISTOFANO  ROBETTA.     ADORATION  OF  THE  MAGI 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  1 1 ;  ,s  x  1 1  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


1 


bc    O 

<u    E 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

reverse  from  Schongauer's  Adoration^  and  that  the 
Allegory  of  the  Power  of  Love ^  one  of  Robetta's  most 
charming  subjects,  is  engraved  upon  the  reverse 
side  of  the  plate  of  the  Adoration  of  the  Magi^  the 
copper-plate  itself  being  now  in  the  Print  Room 
of  the  British  Museum.  Whether  the  Allegory  of 
Abundance  is  entirely  Robetta's,  or  whether  the 
design  was  suggested  by  another  master's  painting 
or  drawing,  can  be  only  a  matter  of  conjecture.  It 
shows,  however,  so  many  of  the  characteristics 
which  we  associate  with  his  work  that  we  may  give 
him  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  and  consider  him  as 
its  "onlie  begetter." 

Hercules  and  the  Hydra  and  Hercules  and  Antceus 
show  so  markedly  the  influence  of  Pollaiuolo  that 
we  may  conclude  them  to  have  been  taken  from 
the  two  small  panels  in  the  Uffizi;  though,  in  the 
case  of  the  first  named,  Pollaiuolo's  original  sketch, 
now  in  the  British  Museum,  may  also  have  served 
Robetta. 

Whether  Pollaiuolo  based  his  technical  method 
upon  that  of  Mantegna  and  his  School,  or  whether 
Mantegna's  own  engravings  were  inspired  by  his 
Florentine  contemporary,  is  an  interesting,  but 
thus  far  unanswered,  question.  Pollaiuolo's  one 
print,  the  Battle  of  Naked  Men^  is  engraved  in  the 
Broad  Manner,  somewhat  modified  by  the  use  of  a 
light  stroke  laid  at  an   acute  angle  between   the 

I891 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

parallels.  The  outlines  of  the  figures  are  strongly 
incised;  while  the  treatment  of  the  background 
lends  color  to  the  supposition  that,  in  his  youth, 
Pollaiuolo  engraved  in  niello,  as  well  as  furnished 
designs  to  be  executed  by  Finiguerra  and  his 
School.  In  this  masterpiece  the  artist  has  summed 
up  his  knowledge  of  the  human  form,  and  has  ex- 
pressed, in  a  more  convincing  and  vigorous  meas- 
ure than  has  any  other  engraver  in  the  history  of 
the  art,  the  strain  and  stress  of  violent  motion  and 
the  fury  of  combat. 

"What  is  it,"  asks  Bernhard  Berenson,  "that 
makes  us  return  to  this  sheet  with  ever-renewed, 
ever-increased  pleasure?  Surely  it  is  not  the 
hideous  faces  of  most  of  the  figures  and  their 
scarcely  less  hideous  bodies.  Nor  is  it  the  pattern 
as  decorative  design,  which  is  of  great  beauty  in- 
deed, but  not  at  all  in  proportion  to  the  spell  ex- 
erted upon  us.  Least  of  all  is  it — for  most  of  us — 
an  interest  in  the  technique  or  history  of  engraving. 
No,  the  pleasure  we  take  in  these  savagely  battling 
forms  arises  from  their  power  to  directly  communi- 
cate life,  to  immensely  heighten  our  sense  of  vital- 
ity. Look  at  the  combatant  prostrate  on  the 
ground  and  his  assailant,  bending  over,  each  intent 
on  stabbing  the  other.  See  how  the  prostrate  man 
plants  his  foot  on  the  thigh  of  his  enemy  and  note 
the  tremendous  energy  he  exerts  to  keep  ofi"'  the 

[90] 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

foe,  who,  turning  as  upon  a  pivot,  with  his  grip  on 
the  other's  head,  exerts  no  less  force  to  keep  the 
advantage  gained.  The  significance  of  all  these 
muscular  strains  and  pressures  is  so  rendered  that 
we  cannot  help  realizing  them;  we  imagine  our- 
selves imitating  all  the  movements  and  exerting 
the  force  required  for  them — and  all  without  the 
least  effort  on  our  side.  If  all  this  without  moving 
a  muscle,  what  should  we  feel  if  we  too  had  ex- 
erted ourselves?  And  thus  while  under  the  spell  of 
this  illusion — this  hyperaesthesia  not  bought  with 
drugs  and  not  paid  for  with  cheques  drawn  on  our 
vitality — we  feel  as  if  the  elixir  of  life,  not  our  own 
sluggish  blood,  were  coursing  through  our  veins."* 
Pollaiuolo  is  the  one  great  original  engraver 
Florence  produced,  and  with  him  we  bring  to  a 
close  our  all  too  brief  study  of  Florentine  engraving. 


*  Florentine    Painters    of  the  Renaissance.      By    Bernhard    Berenson. 
New  York:  Putnam's  Sons.     1899.    pp.  54-55. 


[91 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING:  THE  FLORENTINES 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Le  Peintre  Graveur.  By  Adam  Bartsch.  21  volumes.  Vienna:  1803-1821. 
Volume  13,  Early  Italian  Engravers. 

The  Drawings  of  the  Florentine  Painters.  By  Bernhard  Berenson. 
2  volumes.  180  illustrations.  New  York:  E.  P.  Button  &  Company.  1903. 
Catalogue  of  Early  Italian  Engravings  Preserved  in  the  Department 
OF  Prints  and  Drawings  in  the  British  Museum.  By  Arthur  May ger  Hind. 
Edited  by  Sidney  Colvin.    20  illustrations.    London:  The  Trustees.    1910. 

— ■ — .    Illustrations  to  the  Catalogue 198  plates.    London: 

The  Trustees.    1909. 

Some  Early  Italian  Engravers  Before  the  Time  of  Marcantonio.    By 

Arthur  Mayger  Hind.   11  illustrations.   The  Print-Collector's  Quarterl)-,  Vol. 

2,  No.  3,  pp.  253-289.    Boston.    1 91 2. 

SuLLE  ORiGiNi  dell'incisione  IN  RAME  IN  Italia.     By  Paul  Kristeller.    4 

illustrations.    Archivio  Storico  dell'Arte,  Vol.  6,  p.  391-400.    Rome.     1893. 

Le  Peintre-Graveur.    By  J.  D.  Passavant.    6  volumes.    Leipzig:  Rudolph 

Weigel.    1 860-1 864.    Volumes  i  and  5,  Early  Italian  Engravers. 

Des  Types  et  des  manieres  des  maitres  graveurs   ....   en  Italie, 

EN  Allemagne,   dans  les  Pays-Bas  et  en  France.     By  Jules  Renouvier. 

2  volumes.    Montpellier:  Boehm,  1 853-1 855.    Volume  i,  Engravers  of  the 

Fifteenth  Century, 

Lives   of  the    Most   Eminent    Painters,  Sculptors,  and   Architects. 

By  Giorgio  Vasari-  Translated  by  Mrs.  Jonathan  Foster.   With  commentary 

by  J.  P.  Richter.    6  volumes.    London:  George  Bell  &  Sons.    1 890-1 892. 

FiNIGUERRA,  MaSO    (1426-I464) 

A  Florentine  Picture-Chronicle;  being  a  Series  of  Ninety-nine 
Drawings  Representing  Scenes  and  Personages  of  Ancient  History, 
Sacred  and  Profane;  reproduced  from  the  Originals  in  the  British 
Museum.  Edited  by  Sidney  Colvin.  99  reproductions  and  117  text  illustra- 
tions.   London:  B.  Quaritch.    1898. 

Sandro  Botticelli.  By  Herbert  P.  Home.  43  plates.  London:  George  Bell 
&  Sons.    1905.    pp.  77-86. 

The  Planets  (c.  1460) 

The  Seven  Planets.  By  Friedrich  Lippmann.  Translated  by  Florence  Sirn- 
monds.  43  reproductions.  London.  1895.  (International  Chalcographical 
Society.    1895.) 

The  Otto  Prints  (c.  1465-1470) 

Florentinische  Zierstucke  aus  DEM  XV.  Jahrhundert.  Edited  by  Paul 
Kristeller.  25  reproductions.  Berlin:  Bruno  Cassirer.  1909.  (Graphische 
Gesellschaft.    Publication  10.) 


[9- 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

Delle  'Imprese  amorose'  nelle  piu  antiche  incisione  fiorentine  By 
A.  Warburg.    Rivista  d'Arte,  Vol.  3  (July-August).    Florence.    1905. 

Engravings  in  Books  (1477-1481) 

Works  of  the  Italian  Engravers  in  the  Fifteenth  Century;  Repro- 
duced    with  an  Introduction.    By  George  William  Reid.    20 

reproductions  on  19  plates.  First  Series:  II  Libro  del  Monte  Sancto  di  Dio, 
1 477;  La  Divina  Commedia  of  Dante;  and  the  Triumphs  of  Petrarch. 

Illustrations  of  the  Divina  Commedia,  Florence,  1481 

Sandro  Botticelli.  By  Herbert  P.  Home.  43  plates.  London:  George  Bell 
&  Sons.    1908.    pp.  75-77,  190-255. 

Zeichnungen  von  Sandro  Botticelli  zu  Dante's  Goettlicher  Komoe- 
DiE  nach  den  originalen  im  K.  Kupferstichkabinet  zu  Berlin.  Edited 
by  Friedrich  Lippmann.  20  reproductions  of  engravings  bound  with  text. 
With  portfolio  of  84  reproductions  of  the  drawings. 

Supplemented  by — Die  acht  handzeichnungen  des  Sandro  Botti- 
celli zu  Dantes  Gottlicher  Komodie  im  Vatikan.  Edited  by  Josef 
Strzygowski.    With  portfolio  of  8  reproductions. 

Triumphs  of  Petrarch  (c.  1470-1480) 

Petrarque;  ses  etudes  d'art,  son  influence  sur  les  artistes,  ses 
PORTRAITS  and  ceux  de  Laure,  l'illustration  de  ses  ecrits.  By  Victor 
Massena,  Prince  d'Essling,  and  Eugene  Muntz.  21  plates  and  191  text  illus- 
trations.   Paris:  Gazette  des  Beaux-Arts.    1902. 

Etudes  sur  les  Triomphes  de  Petrarque.  By  Victor  Massena,  Prince 
d'Essling.  6  illustrations.  Gazette  des  Beaux-Arts.  2  parts.  Part  I.  Vol.  35 
(second  period),  pp.  311-321.  Part  II.  Vol.  36  (second  period),  pp.  25-34. 
Paris.    1887. 

Petrarch;  His  Life  and  Times.  By  H.  C.  Hollway-Calthrop.  24  illustrations. 
London:  Methuen  &  Co.    1907. 

Broad  Manner  Plates  (c.  1470-1480) 

Sandro  Botticelli.  By  Herbert  P.  Home.  43  plates.  London:  George  Bell 
&  Sons.    1908.    pp.  288-291. 

The  Tarocchi  Prints  (c.  1467) 

Die  Tarocchi;  zwei  italienische  Kupferstichfolgen  aus  dem  XV. 
Jahrhundert.  Edited  by  Paul  Kristeller.  100  reproductions  on  50  plates. 
Berlin:  Bruno  Cassirer.  1910.  (Graphische  Gesellschaft.  Extraordinary 
Publication  2.) 

Der  venezianische  Kupferstich  im  XV.  Jahrhundert.  By  Paul  Kris- 
teller.  6  illustrations.  Mitteilungen  der  Gesellschaft  fiir  vervielfaltigende 
Kunst,  Vol.  30,  No.  i.    Vienna.    1907. 

Origine  des  cartes  a  jouer.  By  R.  Merlin.  About  600  reproductions. 
Paris:    L'auteur.     1869. 

[93I 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

The  Tarocchi  Prints.    By  Emil  H.  Richter.    13  illustrations.    The  Print- 
Collector's  Quarterly,  Vol.  6,  No.  i,  pp.  37-89.    Boston.    191 6. 
Catalogue  of  Playing  and  Other  Cards  in  the  British  Museum.    By 
William  Hughes  Willshire.    78  reproductions  on  24  plates.    London:  The 
Trustees.    1876. 

PoLLAiuoLO,  Antonio  (1432-1498) 

Florentine  Painters  of  the  Renaissance.  By  Bernhard  Berenson.  New 
York:  Putnam's  Sons.    1899.    pp.  47-57. 

Antonio  Pollaiuolo.   By  Maud  Cruttwell.   51  illustrations.   London:  Duck- 
worth and  Company.    1907. 

Note  su  Mantegna  e  Pollaiuolo.  By  Arthur  Mayger  Hind.   2  illustrations. 
L'Arte,  Vol.  9,  pp.  303-305.    Rome.    1906. 


[94] 


GERMAN  ENGRAVING:  THE  MASTER  OF 

THE  AMSTERDAM  CABINET  AND 

ALBRECHT  DURER 

WITH  the  exception  of  Martin  Schongauer, 
none  of  Diirer's  immediate  predecessors  bet- 
ter repays  a  thorough  study,  or  exerts  a  more  potent 
fascination,  than  the  Master  of  the  Amsterdam 
Cabinet.  The  earlier  writers,  from  Duchesne  to 
Dutuit,  were  united  in  their  opinion  that  this  en- 
graver was  a  Netherlander;  but  Max  Lehrs,  follow- 
ing the  track  opened  up  by  Harzen,  has  proved 
conclusively  that  the  Master  of  the  Amsterdam 
Cabinet  (so  called  because  the  largest  collection  of 
his  engravings — eighty  subjects  out  of  the  eighty- 
nine  which  are  known — is  preserved  in  the  Royal 
Print  Rooms  in  Amsterdam)  was  not  a  Nether- 
lander but  a  South  German,  a  native  of  Rhenish 
Suabia — the  very  artist,  in  fact,  who  designed  the 
illustrations  of  the  Planets  and  their  influences  and 
the  various  arts  and  occupations  of  men,  for  the 
so-called  "Medieval  House  Book"  in  the  collection 
of  Prince  von  Waldburg-Wolfegg. 

In  subject-matter  he  owes  little  to  his  predeces- 
sors, and  in  technique  he  is  an  isolated  phenome- 

[95] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

non.  St.  Martin  and  the  Beggar  and  St.  Michael  and 
the  'Dragon  show  that  he  was  acquainted  with  the 
work  of  Martin  Schongauer;  the  Ecstasy  of  St. 
Mary  Magdalen  is  obviously  based  upon  a  similar 
engraving  by  the  Master  E.  S.  of  1466;  but  for  the 
most  part  he  stands  alone.  He  seems  to  have 
worked  entirely  in  dry-point  upon  some  soft  metal 
— lead  or  pewter,  perhaps — and  the  ink  which  he 
used,  of  a  soft  grayish  tint,  combines  with  the 
breadth  and  softness  of  the  lines  to  impart  to  his 
prints  much  of  the  character  of  drawings  in  silver- 
point. 

The  Master  of  the  Amsterdam  Cabinet  has 
treated  a  wide  range  of  subjects,  his  preference 
being  for  scenes  of  everyday  life."  His  prints  show 
appreciation  of  the  beauties  of  landscape,  his  skill 
in  the  treatment  of  wide  spaces  is  masterly,  and 
there  is  a  beauty  and  sweetness  in  the  expression  of 
his  faces  which  makes  him  a  worthy  rival  of 
Martin  Schongauer  himself.  He  has  left  us  no 
purely  ornamental  designs,  such  as  might  serve  in 
the  decoration  of  vessels  used  in  the  church,  and 
we  may  infer,  from  the  character  of  his  engravings, 
that  he  was  a  painter,  who  used  the  dry-point  as 
a  diversion,  rather  than  a  professional  engraver, 
pursuing  his  craft  as  a  means  of  livelihood.  In 
power  of  composition  he  can  hardly  rank  with 
Martin  Schongauer,  and  in  range  of  intellect  he 

[96] 


MASTER  OF  THE  AMSTERDAM  CABINET.     ECSTASY 
OF  ST.   MARY  MAGDALEN 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  /^^  x  5J4'  inches 
In  the  Royal  Print  Room,  Amsterdam 


MASTER  OF  THE  AMSTERDAM  CABINET.     CRUCIFIXION 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  6  x  5X  inches 
In  the  Royal  Print  Room,  Amsterdam 


GERMAN  ENGRAVING 

falls  short  of  the  heights  reached  by  Albrecht 
Diirer;  but  his  very  limitations,  perhaps,  render 
him  a  more  companionable  personage,  and  his 
modernity  makes  an  immediate  appeal  to  us  all. 

The  Ecstasy  of  St.  Mary  Magdalen  is  one  of  his 
earliest  plates  and  is  a  free  translation  of  the  same 
subject  by  the  Master  E.  S.  It  would  seem  as 
though  his  dry-point  was  the  immediate  original 
of  Diirer's  woodcut.  The  position  of  the  Magdalen's 
hands  is  the  same  in  both  compositions,  but  Diirer 
has  added  a  landscape  which,  admirable  though  it 
be,  detracts  from  the  main  interest  of  his  print. 

The  Master  of  the  Amsterdam  Cabinet,  in  a 
second  rendering,  herewith  reproduced,  has  elimin- 
ated all  superfluous  or  distracting  details  and 
imparted  a  surprising  degree  of  grace  and  purity 
to  the  lovely  design.  Anything  like  a  chrono- 
logical arrangement  of  the  master's  work  would 
be  difficult,  but  one  may  safely  assume  that  this 
beautiful  engraving  belongs  to  the  latest  and  most 
mature  period  of  his  art,  to  which  period  we  also 
may  assign  the  Two  Lovers. 

As  a  rule,  his  least  successful  engravings  are  those 
dealing  with  religious  themes.  At  times,  however, 
as  in  the  Crucifixion^  he  rises  to  heights  of  dra- 
matic intensity,  and  Diirer  may  be  indebted  more 
than  we  realize  to  this  rendering  of  the  divine 
tragedy.  Aristotle  and  Phyllis  and  Solomon  s  Idola- 

[99] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

try  are  satirical  illustrations  of  the  follies  of  sages 
in  love.  Both  plates  are  illumined  by  a  truly 
modern  sense  of  humor,  while  the  arrangement  of 
the  figures  within  the  spaces  to  be  filled  is  admir- 
able. 

Such  subjects  as  The  Three  Living  and  the  Three 
Dead  Kings  and  Young  Man  and  Death  are  varia- 
tions upon  a  theme  which  was  uppermost  in  the 
minds  of  many  men  at  this  time,  when  the  Ars 
Moriendi  and  the  Dance  of  Death  were  constant 
reminders  of  man's  mortality.  In  agreeable  con- 
trast is  the  dry-point  of  Two  Lovers — a  little  mas- 
terpiece— one  of  his  most  charming  designs.  ''The 
sweet  shyness  of  the  maiden,  the  tender  glances  of 
the  lover  and  the  soft  pressure  of  their  hands  are 
rendered  with  an  inimitable  grace,  and  the  work 
is  altogether  of  such  exceptional  quality  that  we 
may  count  this  delightful  picture  as  one  of  the 
rarest  gems  of  German  engraving  in  the  fifteenth 
century."* 

The  Stag  Hunt  is  filled  with  the  spirit  of  out- 
door life,  the  exhilaration  of  the  chase,  and  the 
joy  of  the  hounds  in  pursuing  their  quarry.  No 
other  engraver  of  the  fifteenth  century  has  left  us 
any  such  truthful  rendering  of  a  hunting  scene,  and 
the  life-enhancing  quality  of  this  little  dry-point 


*The  Master   of  the   Amsterdam   Cabinet.      By   Max  Lehrs.      Inter- 
national Chalcographical  Society,  1893  and  1894.      p.  7. 

[1OOI 


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MASl'ER  OF  THE  AMSTERDAM  CABINET.     ST.  GEORGE 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  5H  x  ^yi  inches 
In  the  British  Museum 


GERMAN  ENGRAVING 

makes  even  Diirer's  rendering  of  animal  forms 
seem  cold  and  relatively  lifeless. 

The  master's  knowledge  of  the  anatomy  of  the 
horse,  and  his  treatment  of  that  noble  beast,  unfor- 
tunately fall  far  short  of  his  rendering  of  the  dogs 
and  stags  in  the  Stag  Hunt.  The  figure  of  St.  George 
is  sufficiently  graceful  and  convincing,  but  the  horse 
(seemingly  of  the  rocking-horse  variety)  can  hardly 
be  proclaimed  a  complete  success.  In  spite  of  this 
obvious  defect  it  is  one  of  the  artist's  finest  plates, 
remarkable  for  its  exceptional  force  and  animation. 
The  unique  proof,  of  which  the  British  Museum  is 
the  fortunate  possessor,  is  in  splendid  condition 
and  rich  in  burr. 

And  now,  with  some  trepidation  of  spirit,  we  ap- 
proach Albrecht  DiJRER  and  his  engraved  work. 
His  many-sidedness  foredooms  to  failure  any  at- 
tempt at  an  adequate  and  comprehensive  treat- 
ment. His  compositions,  as  Max  Allihn  justly  says, 
may  fittingly  be  likened  to  the  Sphinx  of  the  old 
legend;  for  ''they  attack  everyone  who,  either  as 
critic,  historian  or  harmless  wanderer,  ventures  in 
the  realm  of  art,  and  propose  to  him  their  unsolv- 
able  riddles." 

Of  his  own  work  Durer  says:  "What  beauty  may 
be  I  know  not.  Art  is  hidden  in  nature  and  whoso- 
ever can  tear  it  out  has  it,"  and  his  life-long  quest 
of  knowledge,  his  truly  German  reverence  for  fact, 

[103] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

hangs  like  a  millstone  around  his  neck.  "Of  a 
truth,"  writes  Raphael,  "this  man  would  have  sur- 
passed us  all  if  he  had  had  the  masterpieces  of  art 
constantly  before  him."  Raphael  himself — "Ra- 
phael the  Divine" — hardly  paralyzed  aesthetic  crit- 
icism for  a  longer  period  than  has  Diirer,  and  in 
studying  his  engravings,  if  the  student  would  see 
them  for  what  they  are,  as  works  of  art,  and  not 
through  the  enchanted,  oftentimes  stupefying,  maze 
of  metaphysics,  he  must  be  prepared  for  the  gibes 
and  verbal  brick-bats  of  his  contemporaries,  who 
hold  in  reverence  all  that  has  the  sanction  of  long- 
continued  repetition  by  authority  after  authority. 
"If  you  see  it  in  a  book  it's  true;  if  you  see  it  in 
a  German  book  it's  very  true,"  applies  with  only 
too  telling  a  force  to  a  considerable  share  of  Durer 
speculation.  For  better  or  worse  I  cannot  but  think 
that  Diirer's  prime  intention  in  his  engravings  was 
an  artistic  one,  though  obviously  this  intention  was 
often  over-laid  with  a  desire  to  supply  an  existing 
demand  and  to  introduce,  into  otherwise  simple 
compositions,  traditional  moralistic  motives  which 
should  render  his  engravings  more  marketable  at 
the  fairs,  where  mostly  they  were  sold.  So  many 
and  so  fascinating  are  the  facets  of  Diirer's  person- 
ality, so  interesting  is  he  as  a  man  in  whose  mind 
meet,  and  sometimes  blend,  the  ideas  of  the 
Middle  Ages  with  those  almost  of  our  own  time, 

[104] 


GERMAN  ENGRAVING 

that  if  we  are  to  study,  even  in  the  briefest  and 
most  cursory  fashion,  his  engraved  work,  we  must 
perforce  confine  ourselves  strictly  to  the  artistic 
content  of  his  plates  and  not  be  seduced  into  the 
by-ways  of  speculation  which  lead  anywhere — or, 
more  often,  nowhere. 

Earliest  of  his  authenticated  engravings,  without 
monogram  and  without  date,  crude  in  handling, 
possibly  suggested  by  the  work  of  some  earlier 
master,  and  in  all  probability  executed  before  his 
first  journey  to  Venice  (that  is  to  say,  before  or  in 
the  year  1490)  is  the  Ravisher^  susceptible  of  as 
many  and  as  varied  interpretations  as  there  are 
authorities;  from  a  man  using  violence,  to  the 
struggle  for  existence.  It  has  even  been  connected 
in  some  way  with  a  belief  in  witchcraft!  The  Holy 
Family  with  the  Dragonfly ^  to  which  Koehler  gives 
second  place  in  his  chronological  arrangement  of 
Diirer's  engravings,  shows  an  astonishing  advance 
in  technique  and  in  composition.  It  is  undated,  but 
the  monogram  is  in  its  early  form.  The  galley  and 
the  two  gondolas,  in  the  distant  water  to  the  right, 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  it  was  engraved  in  or 
about  the  year  1494,  upon  Diirer's  return  from 
Venice,  and  it  is  probably  his  first  plate  after  his 
return  to  Nuremberg.  There  is  a  sweetness  and  an 
attractiveness  in  the  face  of  the  Virgin  which  points 
to  an  acquaintance  with  Schongauer's  engraving, 

[105] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

the  Virgin  with  a  Parrot,  The  poise  of  the  head  and 
the  flowing  hair  lend  color  to  this  supposition. 

To  how  great  an  extent  not  only  the  engravings, 
but  the  theories,  of  Jacopo  de'  Barbari  may  have 
influenced  Diirer  in  such  plates  as  St.  Jerome  in 
Penitence^  the  Carrying  Of  of  Amymone^  Hercules^ 
or  the  Four  Naked  Women,,  is  difficult  to  determine. 
It  may  have  been  considerable,  though,  at  times, 
one  cannot  help  wondering  whether  the  theory  of 
proportion  of  the  human  body,  of  which  Jacopo 
spoke  to  Diirer,  but  concerning  which  he  refused 
(or  was  unable)  to  give  him  further  detailed  partic- 
ulars, may  not  have  been  more  or  less  of  a  ''bluff," 
since  there  is  no  record  of  Jacopo  having  com- 
mitted the  results  of  his  studies  to  writing,  and  in 
his  engravings  there  is  little  evidence  of  any  logical 
theory  of  proportion.  That  a  potent  influence  was 
at  work  shaping  Diirer's  development  is  clear,  and 
the  figure  of  St.  Jerome  undoubtedly  owes  a  good 
deal  to  Jacopo.  The  landscape  is  all  Diirer's  own, 
the  first  of  a  long  series  finely  conceived  and  admir- 
ably executed.  The  long,  sweeping  lines  in  the  fore- 
ground recall  the  manner  of  Jacopo  de'  Barbari, 
but  otherwise  the  engraving  owes  little  technically 
to  that  artist. 

The  Virgiyi  and  Child  with  the  Monkey  is  the  most 
brilliant  of  Diirer's  engravings  in  his  earlier  period. 
In  the  opinion  of  many  students  it  is,  likewise,  the 

fio6] 


ALBRECHT  DURER.      VIRGIN  AND  CHILD  WITH  THE 

MONKEY 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  7J2  x  4.^4  inches 

In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


ALBRECHT  DURER.     FOUR  NAKED  WOMEN 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  7K  x  5K  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


GERMAN  ENGRAVING 

most  beautiful  and  dignified,  not  only  in  the  figures 
of  the  Virgin  and  Child,  but  also  in  the  breadth  and 
richness  of  the  landscape.  The  loveliness  of  the  back- 
ground was  early  recognized,  and  several  Italian 
engravers,  including  Giulio  Campagnola,  availed 
themselves  of  it.  WhenDiirer's  drawings  and  water- 
colors  are  more  generally  known,  he  will  be  ac- 
claimed one  of  the  masters  of  landscape.  There  is  a 
freshness,  a  breeziness,  an  "out-of-doors"  quality 
in  his  water-color  of  the  Weierhaus  which  will  sur- 
prise those  who  hitherto  have  known  him  only 
through  his  engraved  work,  wherein  the  landscape 
undergoes  a  certain  formalizing  process. 

The  Virgin  and  Child  with  the  Monkey  is  so 
beautiful  in  simplicity  of  handling,  so  delightful  in 
arrangement  of  black  and  white,  that  it  is  hard  to 
reconcile  oneself  to  the  comparatively  coarse  line 
work,  the  insensitiveness  to  beauty  of  form,  the 
disregard  of  anatomy,  shown  m  Four  Naked  JVomen 
of  1497 — Diirer's  first  dated  plate — especially  the 
woman  standing  to  the  left,  who  combines  the 
slackness  of  Jacopo  de'  Barbari  at  his  worst  with 
the  heaviness  and  puffiness  possible  only  to  a 
Northerner  unacquainted  with  the  classic  ideals 
of  the  Italian  Renaissance. 

Speculation  is  again  rife  as  to  the  meaning,  if 
it  has  a  meaning,  of  the  skull  and  bone  on  the 
ground,  and  the  devil  emerging  from  the  flames  at 

[109! 


•  ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

the  left.  The  engraving  seems  to  be  a  straight- 
forward, naturaHstic  study  of  the  nude,  with  these 
accessories  thrown  in  to  give  the  subject  a  moral- 
izing air  which  would  make  it  palatable  to  the 
artist's  contemporaries.  There  could  hardly  be  a 
greater  contrast  to  this  frankly  hideous  treatment 
of  the  human  form  than  Hercules  (called  also  the 
Effects  of  Jealousy^  the  Great  Satyr ^  etc.).  In  this 
plate  we  are  able,  as  in  few  others — the  one  notable 
exception  being  the  Adam  and  Eve  of  1504 — to 
follow  out,  step  by  step,  Diirer's  upbuilding  of  the 
composition.  The  figures  are,  in  this  case,  idealized 
according  to  the  canons  of  classical  beauty,  rather 
than  realistically  rendered.  Incidentally,  the  land- 
scape is  quite  the  most  beautiful  which  appears  in 
any  of  Diirer's  engravings.  Its  spaciousness  in- 
stantly commands  our  admiration,  and  the  grada- 
tion from  light  to  dark,  to  indicate  differing  planes 
in  the  trees,  is  managed  in  a  masterly  manner. 

Beginning  with  the  Death  of  Orpheus^  engraved 
by  some  anonymous  North  Italian  miaster  working 
in  the  Fine  Manner  of  the  Tarocchi  Cards,  the  next 
step  is  Durer's  pen  drawing,  dated  1494.  The  fig- 
ures of  Orpheus  and  of  the  two  Thracian  Maenads 
remain  unchanged,  as  does  also  the  little  child  run- 
ning towards  the  left.  Diirer  has,  however,  changed 
the  lute  into  a  lyre,  as  being  more  suited  to  Or- 
pheus, and  has  added  the  beautiful  group  of  trees 

[no] 


ALBRECHT  DURER.     HERCULES 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  13K  x  ^H  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


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ALBRECHT  DURER.     DEATH  OF  ORPHEUS 

Size  of  the  original  drawing,  1 1  ^  s  x  8H  inches 
In  the  Kunsthalle,  Hamburg 


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GERMAN  ENGRAVING 

which  reappears,  little  changed,  in  his  engraving  of 
Hercules.  There  is  a  drawing  of  the  Mantegna 
School  which  Diirer  may,  or  may  not,  have  seen; 
but  the  face  of  Orpheus  in  his  drawing  shows  cer- 
tain unmistakable  Mantegna  characteristics,  far 
removed  from  the  North  Italian  Fine  Manner 
print.  From  Mantegna's  engraving,  the  Battle  of 
the  Sea-Gods  (right-hand  portion),  Diirer  has  bor- 
rowed the  figure  of  the  reclining  woman  to  the  left 
and  the  Satyr.  That  he  was  acquainted  with  this 
engraving  by  Mantegna  is  attested  by  a  drawing 
of  1494.  The  man  standing  to  the  right,  with  legs 
spread  wide  apart,  wearing  a  fantastic  helmet  in 
the  shape  of  a  cock,  recalls  the  work  of  Pollaiuolo,  by 
whom  there  exists  a  similar  drawing,  now  in  Berlin. 
From  these  various  elements  Diirer  builds  up  his  com- 
position. Its  full  meaning  he  alone  knew.  It  has  re- 
mained an  unsolved  riddle  from  his  time  to  our  own. 
The  Carrying  Off  of  Amy  mone  belongs  to  this  same 
period.  Here  Diirer  has  again  used  the  motive 
taken  from  Mantegna's  engraving,  the  Battle  of  the 
Sea  Gods;  but  in  this  instance  he  follows  his  original 
much  more  closely.  Diirer  alludes  to  this  print  in 
the  diary  of  his  journey  to  the  Netherlands  as  The 
Sea  Wonder  {Das  Meerwunder)\  and  although  the 
interpretations  given  to  it  are  many  and  various, 
its  true  meaning,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Hercules, 
remains  a  matter  of  conjecture. 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

By  1503,  the  year  to  which  belongs  the  Coat-of- 
Arms  with  the  Skull,  and  also,  in  all  probability,  the 
magnificent  Coat-of-Arms  with  the  Cock,  Diirer 
seems  to  have  overcome  successfully  all  technical 
difficulties  and  is  absolute  master  of  his  medium. 
From  this  time  onwards,  although  his  manner 
undergoes  certain  modifications  in  the  direction  of 
fuller  color  and  of  a  more  accurate  rendering  of 
texture,  his  language  is  adequate  for  anything  he 
may  wish  to  say,  and  he  is  free  to  address  himself 
to  the  solution  of  scientific  problems,  such  as  are 
involved  in  the  elucidation  of  his  canon  of  human 
proportion,  or  the  still  deeper  questions  which 
stirred  so  profoundly  the  speculative  minds  of  his 
time. 

With  the  exception  oi  Hercules,  Adam  and  Eve  is 
the  only  engraving  by  Diirer  of  which  trial  proofs, 
properly  so-called,  exist,  whereby  we  can  study 
Diirer's  method.  First  the  outlines  were  lightly 
laid  in;  then  the  background  was  carried  forward 
and  substantially  completed.  In  the  first  trial  proof 
Adam's  right  leg  alone  is  finished;  but  in  the  second 
trial  proof  he  is  completed  to  the  waist.  This 
method  of  procedure  is  significant,  in  view  of  the 
endless  controversies,  based  upon  an  incomplete 
study  of  Diirer's  technique,  regarding  the  use  of 
preliminary  etching  in  many  plates  of  his  middle 
and  later  period. 

[116] 


ALBRECHT  DURER.     ADAM  AND  EVE 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  g%  x  Sfs  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


ALBRECHT  DURER.    APOLLO  AND  DIANA 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  4K  x  l^i  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


GERMAN  ENGRAVING 

In  Adam  and  Eve  Diirer  has  summed  up  the 
knowledge  obtained  by  actual  observation  and  by 
a  series  of  drawings  and  studies  extending  over  a 
number  of  years,  and  combined  with  it  his  theo- 
retical working  out  of  the  proportions  of  the  human 
figure,  male  and  female.  In  no  other  plate  has  he 
lavished  such  loving  care  upon  the  representation 
of  the  human  form.  The  flesh  is,  so  to  speak, 
caressed  with  the  burin,  as  though,  once  and  for  all, 
the  artist  wished  to  prove  to  his  contemporaries 
that  the  graver  sufficed  for  the  rendering  of  the 
most  beautiful,  the  most  subtle  and  scientific 
problems.  That  Diirer  himself  was  satisfied  with 
the  result  of  his  labors  at  this  time  is  made  mani- 
fest by  the  detailed  inscription,  albertus  durer 
NORicus  FACiEBAT,  on  the  tablet,  followed  by  his 
monogram  and  the  date  1504.  This  plate  pro- 
claimed him  indisputably  the  greatest  master  of  the 
burin  of  his  time;  and  along  the  lines  which  he  laid 
down  for  himself  it  remains  unsurpassed  until  our 
own  day. 

Adam  and  Eve  is  followed  by  a  group  of  prints 
which,  though  interesting  in  treatment  and  charm- 
ing in  subject,  such  as  the  Nativity^  Apollo  and 
Diana^  and  the  first  four  plates  of  the  Small  Passion, 
reveal  nothing  new  in  Diirer's  development  as  an 
artist  or  a  man.  In  the  year  1 5 10,  however,  is  made 
his  first  experiment  in  dry-point    Of  the  very  small 

[119I 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

plate  of  Sl  Veronica  with  the  Sudarium  two  impres- 
sions only  have  come  down  to  us,  neither  of  them 
showing  much  burr.  The  Man  of  Sorrows^  dated 
1 51 2,  likewise  must  have  been  very  delicately 
scratched  upon  the  copper,  all  existing  impres- 
sions being  pale  and  delicate  in  tone.  Whether 
Diirer's  desire  was  to  produce  engravings  which 
should  entail  less  labor  and  be  more  quickly 
executed  than  was  possible  by  the  slower  and  more 
laborious  method  of  the  burin,  or  whether,  as  seems 
much  more  likely,  he  was  influenced  by  an  ac- 
quaintanceship with  the  dry-point  work  of  the 
Master  of  the  Amsterdam  Cabinet,  cannot  be  as- 
serted with  any  degree  of  assurance.  Diirer's  third 
dry-point,  the  St.  Jerome  by  the  Willow  Tree  (like 
the  Man  of  Sorrows  dated  151 2),  is  treated  in  so 
much  bolder  and  more  painter-like  a  manner,  is 
so  rich  in  burr  and  so  satisfying  as  a  composition, 
that  one  can  hardly  account  for  such  remarkable 
development  unaided  by  any  outside  influence  or 
stimulation.  The  British  Museum's  impression  of 
the  first  state,  before  the  monogram, — the  richest 
impression  known — yields  nothing  in  color  effect 
even  to  Rembrandt.  Thausing  is  inclined  to  think 
that  Rembrandt  must  have  been  inspired  by  this 
plate  to  himself  take  up  the  dry-point — an  inter- 
esting speculation  and  one  which  would  do  honor 
to  both  of  these  great  masters. 

[120] 


ALBRECHT  DURER.     ST.  JEROME  BY  THE  WILLOW  TREE 

(First  State) 
Size  of  the  original  dry-point  Sjg  x  7  inches 
In  the  British  Museum 


ALBRECHT  DURER.    HOLY  FAMILY 

Size  of  the  original  dry-point,  S^^^xyK  inches 


GERMAN  ENGRAVING 

The  Holy  Family^  though  without  monogram  and 
undated,  belongs  so  unmistakably,  from  internal 
evidence,  to  this  period,  that  we  may  safely  assign 
it  to  the  year  1512.  The  background  and  landscape 
to  the  left  are  indicated  in  outline  only.  Did  Durer 
intend  to  carry  the  plate  further?  We  can  never 
know.  It  is  his  fourth  and,  unfortunately,  his  last 
dry-point.  There  is  a  beauty  in  St.  Jerome  by  the 
Willow  Tree  and  in  this  Holy  Family  which  leads 
us  to  read  in  these  two  masterpieces  certain  Italian 
influences.  There  is  the  largeness  of  conception  of 
the  Venetian  School,  and  both  St.  Jerome  and 
St.  Joseph  show  strong  traces  of  such  a  master  as 
Giovanni  Bellini. 

With  the  brief  space  at  our  disposal,  what  shall 
we  say  of  the  crowning  works  of  those  two  wonderful 
years,  15 13-15 14 — Knight^  Death  and  the  Devil., 
Melancholia  J  and  St.  Jerome  in  his  Study?  Are  they 
three  of  a  proposed  series  of  the  four  temperaments  ? 
Should  they  be  considered  as  parts  of  a  group — or 
is  each  masterpiece  complete  in  itself?  One  thing 
at  least  they  have  in  common:  they  are  truly 
"Stimmungsbilder" — that  is,  the  lighting  is  so  ar- 
ranged, in  each  composition,  as  directly  to  affect 
the  mind  and  the  mood  of  the  beholder,  and  ''the 
sombre  gloom  of  the  Knight^  Death  and  the  Devil., 
the  weird,  unearthly  glitter  of  the  Melancholia., 
with  its  uncertain,  glinting  lights,  the  soft,  tranquil 

[123I 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

sunshine  of  the  Sl  Jerome,  are  all  in  accordance 
with  their  several  subjects.  These,  whether  or  not 
originally  intended  to  represent  'classes  of  men'  or 
'moods/  certainly  call  up  the  latter  in  the  mind  of 
the  beholder — the  steady  courage  of  the  valiant 
fighter  for  the  right,  undismayed  by  darkness  and 
dangers;  the  brooding,  leading  well-nigh  to  despair, 
over  the  vain  efforts  of  human  science  to  lift  the 
veil  of  the  eternal  secret ;  and  the  calm  content  of  the 
mind  at  peace  with  itself  and  the  world  around  it."* 
Diirer,  unfortunately,  sheds  no  light  upon  the 
inner  and  deeper  meaning  of  the  Knight,  Death  and 
the  Devil.  He  speaks  of  it  simply  as  "A  Horseman." 
The  many  and  various  titles  invented  for  it  since 
his  time  carry  us  very  little  further  forward  than 
where  we  began.  The  letter  S,  which  precedes  the 
date,  the  dog  which  trots  upon  the  further  side  of 
the  horse,  even  the  blades  of  grass  under  the  hoof 
of  the  right  hind  leg  of  the  horse,  have  all  been 
matters  of  speculation  and  controversy,  and  we 
choose  the  part  of  wisdom  if,  disregarding  the 
swirling  currents  of  metaphysical  interpretation, 
we  enjoy  this  masterpiece  of  engraving  for  its 
aesthetic  content  primarily,  and  for  its  potential 
meanings  afterwards. 


*A  Chronological  Catalogue  of  the  Engravings,  Dry-Points  and  Etch- 
ings of  Albert  Diirer,  as  exhibited  at  the  Grolier  Club.  By  Sylvester 
R.  Koehler.    New  York;  The  Grolier  Club.     1897.    p.  65. 

[124] 


ALBRECHT  DURER.  KNIGHT,  DEATH  AND  THE  DEVIL 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  gH  x  jH  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


ALBRECHT  DURER.  MELANCHOLIA 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  9H  x  7K  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


GERMAN  ENGRAVING 

Melancholia  favors  an  even  wider  range  of  specu- 
lation than  the  Knight^  Death  and  the  Devil.  This 
woman,  who  wears  a  laurel  wreath  and  who,  seated 
in  gloomy  meditation,  supports  her  cheek  in  her 
left  hand,  while  all  the  materials  for  human  labor, 
for  art,  and  for  science  lie  scattered  about  her — does 
she  symbolize  human  Reason  in  despair  at  the 
limits  imposed  upon  her  power?  Or  does  the  plate 
have  a  more  personal  and  intimate  meaning,  re- 
flecting Durer's  deep  grief  at  the  death  of  his 
mother — the  mother  to  whom  he  so  often  refers  in 
his  letters,  always  with  heartfelt  affection? 

The  so-called  "magic  square"  lends  color  to  the 
latter  interpretation.  Durer's  mother  died  on  May 
17,  1 5 14.  The  figures  in  the  diagonally  opposite 
corners  of  the  square  can  be  read  as  follows,  16  + 
I  and  13  +  4,  making  17,  the  day  of  the  month; 
as  do  the  figures  in  the  center  read  crosswise,  10 
+  7  and  1 1  +  6,  and  also  the  middle  figures  at 
the  sides  read  across,  5  +  12  and  8  +  9.  The  two 
middle  figures  in  the  top  line,  3  +  2,  give  5,  the 
month  in  question,  and  the  two  middle  figures  in 
the  bottom  line  give  the  year,  1514. 

Artistically  the  plate  suffers  from  the  multiplicity 
of  objects  introduced,  and  the  loving  care  which 
Diirer  has  lavished  upon  them.  He  has  wished  to 
tell  his  story — whatever  it  may  be — with  absolute 
completeness  in  every  particular,  and  in  so  doing 

[127] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

he  has  weakened  and  confused  the  effect  of  his 
plate.  It  were  idle  to  speculate  upon  what  might 
have  happened  had  so  sensitive  a  master  as  Martin 
Schongauer  possessed  adequate  technical  skill  for 
the  interpretation  of  such  a  subject.  What  a  mas- 
terpiece of  masterpieces  might  have  resulted  if  he 
had  subjected  it  to  that  process  of  simplification 
and  elimination  of  which  he  was  so  splendid  an 
exponent!  However  this  may  be,  Melancholia  has 
been,  and  probably  will  continue  to  be,  one  of  the 
signal  triumphs  in  the  history  of  engraving.  We 
may  never  solve  the  riddles  which  she  propounds; 
but  is  she  less  fascinating  for  being  only  partially 
understood? 

St.  Jerome  in  his  Cell^  all  things  considered,  may 
be  accounted  Diirer's  high-water  mark.  There  is  a 
unity  and  harmony  about  this  plate  which  is  lack- 
ing in  Melancholia.  Nothing  could  be  finer  than  the 
lighting;  and,  judged  merely  as  a  "picture,"  it  is 
altogether  satisfying  from  every  point  of  view. 
The  accessories,  even  the  animals  in  the  foreground, 
take  their  just  places  in  the  composition.  It  is 
surprising  that,  although  the  plate  is  "finished" 
with  minute  and  loving  care,  there  is  not  the  faint- 
est evidence  of  labor  apparent  anywhere  about  it; 
but  this  is  only  one  of  its  many  and  superlative 
merits.  The  light  streaming  in  through  the  window 
at  the  left  and  bathing  in  its  soft  effulgence  the 

[128] 


ALBRECHT  DURER.     ST.  JEROME  IN  HIS  CELL 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  9K  x  7K  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


ALBRKCHT  DURER.     VIRGIN  SEATED  BESIDE  A  WALL 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  <K  x  jvg  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


GERMAN  ENGRAVING 

Saint,  intent  upon  his  task,  and  the  entire  room  in 
which  he  sits,  has  been  for  centuries  the  admiration 
of  every  art  lover. 

To  this  year,  15 14,  also  belongs  the  Virgin 
Seated  Beside  a  Wall^  a  plate  in  which  the  variety 
of  texture  has  been  carried  further  than  in  any 
other  engraving  by  Diirer.  The  flesh  is  simply 
treated,  in  line  for  the  most  part;  but  the  under- 
garment, the  fur-trimmed  wrapper,  and  the  scarf 
which  covers  the  head  of  the  Virgin,  hanging  down 
the  back  and  thrown  over  the  knee,  are  all  care- 
fully differentiated.  Again,  the  various  planes  in 
the  landscape  leading  up  to  the  fortified  city  are 
beautifully  handled,  as  is  also  the  wall  to  the  right. 
It  is  hard  to  say  what  technical  problems  remained 
for  Diirer  to  solve  after  such  a  little  masterpiece  as 
this. 

His  growing  fame  meanwhile  had  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  "the  last  of 
the  Knights,"  who  in  February,  1512,  visited 
Nuremberg.  Diirer  is  commissioned  to  design  the 
Triumphal  Arch^  the  Triumphal  Car^  and  similar 
monumental  records  of  the  Emperor's  prowess;  not 
to  speak  of  such  orders  as  the  decoration  of  the 
Emperor's  Prayer-Book,  etc.  Such  distraction  ab- 
sorbed the  greater  part  of  the  artist's  time  and 
energies,  and  there  was  left  little  opportunity  for 
the  development  of  his  work  along  the  lines  he  had 

[131] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

hitherto  followed.  It  may  be  that  we  owe  to  this 
fact,  and  to  the  quick  mode  of  producing  a  print 
such  a  process  offers,  the  six  etchings  on  iron  which 
bear  dates  from  151 5  to  151 8.  But,  whatever  the 
reason,  we  are  glad  that  he  etched  these  plates. 
Discarding,  for  the  moment,  the  elaborate  and  de- 
tailed method  of  line  work  of  his  engravings  on 
copper,  he  adopts  a  more  open  system,  such  as 
would  "come  well"  in  the  biting — closer  work  than 
in  his  woodcuts,  but  perfectly  adapted  to  that 
which  he  wished  to  say. 

There  is  a  tense  and  passionate  quality  in  Christ 
in  the  Garden  which  places  this  etched  plate 
among  the  noteworthy  works  even  of  Diirer, 
while  the  wind-torn  tree  to  the  left  of  Christ  gives 
the  needed  touch  of  the  supernatural  to  the  com- 
position. The  Carrying  Off  of  Proserpine — the  spir- 
ited drawing  for  which  is  now  in  the  J.  Pierpont 
Morgan  collection — is  the  working  out,  with  alle- 
gorical accessories,  of  a  study  of  a  warrior  carrying 
off  a  woman.  The  last  of  his  plates,  the  Cannon^ 
of  1 5 1 8,  with  its  charming  landscape,  was  doubtless 
executed  to  supply,  promptly,  a  popular  demand. 
It  represents  a  large  field  piece  bearing  the  Arms  of 
Nuremberg,  and  the  five  strangely  costumed  men 
to  the  right,  gazing  upon  the  "Nuremberg  Field 
Serpent,"  obviously  have  some  relation  to  the  fear 
of  the  Turk,  then  strong  in  Germany. 


ALBRECHT  DURER.  CHRIST  IN  THE  GARDEN 

Size  of  the  original  etching,  SK  x  6)4  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


'  i  Ia\AGO  ERASAM  R01l-ROU\  I 
'  \VI  Ali  MBERIO  DVKtRO  \D' 
,    M\  V  N\     EFFIGIK.W   DELIM  M  \ 


1h\   KPElTTXi  TA  il^riPA^V 
.WAT A   «1ZEI 


A\  D    X  X  \'    I 


t 


L__ ' 

■"    '          ^■""'      ~" 

|kj'""    ^"" -"3 

,  m 

1^-  _.--.^ 

^^^f^^ 

ALBRECHT  DURP:R.  ERASMUS  OF  ROTTERDAM 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  9H  x  7^8  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


GERMAN  ENGRAVING 

In  1 519  we  have  the  first  of  Diirer's  engraved 
portraits — Albert  of  Brandenburg^  ''The  Little  Cardi- 
nal^' to  distinguish  it  from  the  larger  plate  of  1523. 
Opinions  as  to  Diirer's  importance  as  a  portrait 
engraver  vary  considerably.  Some  students  feel 
that  in  these  later  works  the  engraver  has  become 
so  engrossed  in  the  delight  of  his  craft  that  he  has 
failed  to  concentrate  his  attention  upon  the  counte- 
nance and  character  of  the  sitter,  bestowing  ex- 
cessive care  upon  the  accessories  and  the  minor 
accidents  of  surface  textures — wrinkles  and  similar 
unimportant  matters.  On  the  other  hand,  such  an 
authority  as  Koehler  maintains  that  the  Albert  of 
Brandenburg^  preeminent  for  delicacy  and  noble 
simplicity  among  these  portrait  engravings  by 
Diirer,  "will  always  be  ranked  among  the  best 
portraits  engraved  anywhere  and  at  any  time." 

Frederic  the  Wise^  Elector  of  Saxony^  was  one 
of  the  earliest  patrons  of  Diirer,  founder  of  the 
University  of  Wittenberg  and  a  supporter  of  the 
Reformation,  although  he  never  openly  embraced 
the  doctrines  of  Martin  Luther.  Durer's  drawing 
in  silver-point  gives  a  straightforward  and  charac- 
terful presentation  of  the  man,  and,  in  this  instance, 
translation  into  the  terms  of  engraving  has  nowise 
lessened  the  directness  of  appeal. 

Erasmus  of  Rotterdam  bears  the  latest  date  (1526) 
which  we  find  upon  any  engraving  by  Diirer,  and  it 

[135] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

well  may  be  his  last  plate.  Here  the  elaboration 
and  finish  bestowed  upon  the  accessories  certainly 
detract  from  the  portrait  interest.  Erasmus  was 
polite  enough,  when  he  saw  this  engraving,  to  ex- 
cuse its  unlikeness  to  himself  by  remarking  that 
doubtless  he  had  changed  much  during  the  five 
years  which  had  intervened  between  Diirer's 
drawing  of  1521  and  the  completion  of  the  plate. 
Technically,  however,  it  is  a  masterpiece,  a  worthy 
close  to  the  career  of  undoubtedly  the  greatest 
engraver  Germany  has  produced. 


136] 


GERMAN  ENGRAVING:  THE  MASTER  OF  THE  AM- 
STERDAM CABINET  AND  ALBRECHT  DURER 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Master  of  the  Amsterdam  Cabinet  (flourished  c.  1467- 
c.  1500) 

ZuR  Zeitbestimmung  der  Stiche  des  Hausbuch-Meisters.  B\  Curt 
Glaser.  Monatshefte  fur  Kunstwissenschaft,  Vol.  3,  pp.  1 45-1 56.  Leipzig. 
1910. 

The  Master  of  the  Amsterdam  Cabinet,  By  Max  Lehrs.  89  reproduc- 
tions. London.  1894.  (International  Chalcographical  Society.  1893  and 
1894.) 

BiLDER  UND  Zeichnungen  vom  Meister  DES  Hausbuchs.  By  Max  Lehrs. 
5  illustrations.  Jahrbuch  der  koniglichen  preussischen  Kunstsammlungen, 
Vol.  20,  pp.   173-182.     Berlin.     1899. 

The  Master  of  the  Amsterdam  Cabinet  and  Two  New  Works  by  His 
Hand.  By  Willy  F.  Storck.  6  illustrations.  The  Burlington  Magazine. 
Vol.  18,  pp.  184-192.    London.    1910. 

DiJRER,  Albrecht  (1471-1528) 

Le  Peintre-Graveur.  By  Adatn  Bartsch.  Volume  7,  pp.  5-197.  Albert 
Durer,  Vienna.      1 803-1 821. 

Literary  Remains  of  Albrecht  Durer.  By  IVilliam  Martin  Con-way.  14 
illustrations.    Cambridge:  University  Press.    1889. 

The  Engravings  of  Albrecht  Durer.  By  Lionel  Cust.  4  reproductions 
and  25  text  illustrations.  London:  Seeley  &  Co.  1906.  (The  Portfolio  Ar- 
tistic Monographs.    No.  11.) 

Albrecht  Durer;  His  Engravings  and  Woodcuts.  Edited  by  Arthur 
Mayger  Hind.  65  reproductions.  London  and  New  York:  Frederick  A. 
Stokes  Company,  n.  d.   (Great  Engravers.) 

DiJRER.  By  H.  Knackfuss.  Translated  by  Campbell  Dodgson.  134  illustra- 
tions. Bielefeld  and  Leipzig:  Velhagen  &  Klasing.  1900.  (Monographs  on 
Artists.) 

Exhibition  of  Albert  Durer's  Engravings,  Etchings  and  Dry-Points, 
and  of  Most  of  the  Woodcuts  Executed  from  His  Designs.  (Museum 
of  Fine  Arts,  Boston.  November  15,  1888-January  15,  1889.)  By  Sylvester  R. 
Koehler.  Boston:  Museum  of  Fine  Arts.     1888. 

Chronological  Catalogue  of  the  Engravings,  Dry-Points  and  Etch- 
ings OF  Albert  Durer,  as  Exhibited  at  the  Grolier  Club.  By  Sylvester 
R.  Koehler.    9  reproductions  on  7  plates.    New  York:  The  Grolier  Club.  1897. 

Durer;  des  Meisters  Gemalde,  Kupferstiche  und  Holzschnitte.  Edited 
by  Valentin  Scherer.  473  reproductions.  Stuttgart  and  Leipzig:  Deutsche 
Verlags-Anstalt.     (Klassiker  der  Kunst.    Vol.  4.) 


137] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

Albert  Durer;  His  Life  and  Works.    By  William  B.  Scott.    Illustrated. 

London:  Longmans,  Green  &  Co.    1869. 

Albrecht  Durer;  Kupferstiche  in  getreuen  Nachbildungen.    Edited 

by  Jaro  Springer.    70  plates.    Munich:  Holbein-Verlag.    191 4. 

Albert  Durer;  His  Life  and  Works.    By  Moritz  Thausing.     Translated 

from  the  German.   Edited  by  Frederick  A.  Eaton.    1  volumes.    58  illustrations. 

London:  John  Murray.    1882. 

DiJRER  Society.    [Portfolios]    With  Introductory  Notes  by  Campbell 

DoDGSON  AND  Others.    Series  i-io  (1898-1908).    311  reproductions.    Index 

of  Series  i-io.    London.    1898-1908. 

.    Publication  No.  12.    24  reproductions.    London.    191 1. 


138I 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING:  MANTEGNA  TO 
MARCANTONIO  RAIMONDI 


A 


NDREA  Mantegna  IS,  both  by  his  art  and  his 
influence,  the  most  significant  figure  in  early 
Itahan  engraving.  His  method  or  viewpoint  is  a 
determining  feature  in  much  of  the  best  work 
which  was  produced  during  the  last  quarter  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  until  the  influence  of  Raphael, 
transmitted  through  Marcantonio,  with  a  technical 
mode  based  upon  the  manner  of  Albrecht  Diirer, 
completely  changed  the  current  of  Italian  engrav- 
ing, seducing  it  from  what  might  have  developed 
into  an  original  creative  art,  and  condemned  it  to 
perpetual  servitude  as  the  handmaid  of  painting. 
Andrea  Mantegna,  born  in  1431,  at  Vicenza,  and 
consequently  PoUaiuolo's  senior  by  one  year,  was 
adopted,  at  the  age  often,  by  Squarcione,  in  Padua. 
Squarcione  appears  to  have  been  less  a  painter 
than  a  contractor,  undertaking  commissions  to  be 
executed  by  artists  in  his  employ.  He  was  likewise 
a  dealer  in  antiquities,  and  in  his  shop  the  young 
Mantegna  must  have  met  many  of  the  leading 
humanists  who  had  made  Padua  famous  as  a  seat 
of  classical  learning.    From  them  he  drew  in  and 

[139] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

absorbed  that  passion  for  imperial  Rome  which 
was  to  color  his  life  and  his  art.  His  dream  was  ot 
forms  more  beautiful  than  those  of  everyday  life, 
built  of  some  substance  finer  and  less  perishable 
than  the  flesh  of  frail  humanity;  and  as  years  went 
by  his  work  takes  on,  in  increasing  measure,  a 
grander  and  more  majestic  aspect.  Fortunate  for 
us  is  it  that  in  his  mature  period,  when  his  style 
was  fully  formed,  he  himself  was  impelled,  by  in- 
fluences of  which  later  we  shall  speak,  to  take  up 
the  graving  tool  and  with  it  produce  the  seven  im- 
perishable masterpieces  which,  beyond  peradven- 
ture,  we  may  claim  as  his  authentic  work. 

The  Virgin  and  Child^  the  earliest  of  his  en- 
gravings, can  hardly  have  been  executed  before 
1475,  and  maybe  not  until  after  1480,  when  Man- 
tegna  had  reached  his  fiftieth  year.  Mr.  Hind 
points  out  that  there  is  a  simplicity  and  directness 
about  it  which  recalls  quite  early  work,  similarly 
conceived,  such  as  the  Adoration  of  the  Kings  of 
1454;  but  the  reasons  which  he  advances  are  of 
equal  weight  in  assigning  it  to  a  later  date,  and  I 
am  convinced  that  the  intensity  of  mother-love  ex- 
pressed in  the  poise  and  face  of  the  Virgin  betokens 
a  deeper  feeling,  a  broader  humanity,  than  one 
normally  would  expect  in  a  youth  of  twenty-three, 
even  though  he  be  illumined  with  that  flame  of 
genius  which  burned  so  brightly  in  Mantegna. 

[140] 


ANDREA    MANTEGNA.     VIRGIN  AND  CHILD 
Size  of  the  original  engraving,  9^x83^  inches 
In  the  British  Museum 


1-1      o 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

Technically,  the  plate  plainly  shows  the  hand  of 
an  engraver  not  yet  master  of  his  medium.  It  is 
marked  with  all  the  characteristics  which  we  asso- 
ciate with  Mantegna's  work:  the  strong  outline, 
ploughed  with  repeated  strokes  of  a  rather  blunt 
instrument  into  a  plate  of  unbeaten  copper  or  some 
yet  softer  metal;  the  diagonal  shade  lines  widely 
spaced;  and  the  light  strokes  blending  all  into  a 
harmonious  whole.  In  an  impression  of  the  first 
state,  in  the  British  Museum,  there  is  a  tone,  simi- 
lar to  sulphur-tint,  over  portions  of  the  plate, 
noticeably  in  the  faces  of  the  mother  and  child. 
How  it  was  produced  is  still  a  matter  of  conjecture, 
but  that  it  adds  much  to  the  beauty  of  the  print  is 
beyond  question. 

The  Bacchanalian  Group  with  Silenus  and  the 
Bacchanalian  Group  with  a  Wine-Press  (which, 
like  the  Battle  of  the  Sea-Gods,  may  be  joined  to- 
gether so  as  to  form  one  long,  horizontal  composi- 
tion) show  greater  skill  on  the  part  of  the  engraver. 
Mantegna's  increasing  passion  for  the  antique  is 
reflected  in  the  standing  figure  to  the  left,  who  with 
his  left  hand  reaches  up  towards  the  wreath  with 
which  he  is  about  to  be  crowned,  while  resting  his 
right  hand  upon  a  horn  of  plenty.  This  figure  is 
obviously  inspired  by  the  Apollo  Belvedere,  while 
the  standing  faun,  at  the  extreme  right,  filled  with 
the  sheer  delight  of  mere  animal  existence,  is  a 

[143] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

delightful  creation  in  Mantegna's  happiest  mood. 

The  two  plates  of  the  Battle  of  the  Sea-Gods  may 
be  assigned, on  technical  grounds,  to  about  the  same 
period  as  the  two  Bacchanals.  The  drawing  which 
Diirer  made  of  the  right-hand  portion,  as  also  of  the 
Bacchanalian  Group  with  Silenus,  both  dated  1494, 
conclusively  prove  that  these  engravings  antedate 
the  completion  of  the  Triumph  of  Ccesar.  Though 
Mantegna  borrowed  his  material  from  the  antique, 
he  has  so  shaped  it  to  his  ends,  so  stamped  upon  it 
the  impress  of  his  own  personality,  as  to  make  of  it 
not  an  echo  of  classic  art,  but  an  original  creation 
of  compelling  force  and  charm.  "These  are  not  the 
mighty  gods  of  Olympus  but  the  inferior  deities  of 
Nature,  of  the  Earth  and  the  Sea,  who  acknowl- 
edge none  of  the  higher  obligations  and  who  dis- 
play unchecked  their  wanton  elemental  nature, 
giving  a  loose  rein  to  all  the  exuberance  of  their 
joy  in  living.  .  .  .  These  creatures  of  the  sea 
frolic  about  in  the  water,  turbulent  and  wanton  as 
the  waves.  .  .  .  The  combat  with  those  harm- 
less-looking weapons  is  probably  not  meant  to  be 
in  earnest;  a  vent  for  their  superfluous  energy  is 
all  they  seek."* 

To  a  somewhat  later  period  belongs  the  Entomb- 
ment. There  is  nothing  of  the  meek  spirit  of  the 

*  Andrea  Mantegna.  By  Paul  Kristeller.  London;  Longman's  Green 
&  Co.      1901.      p.  395. 

[I44I 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

Redeemer  in  this  passionate  plate.  The  hard,  lap- 
idary landscape  is  in  accord  with  the  figures,  which 
might,  not  unfittingly,  find  a  place  upon  some  tri- 
umphal arch.  Three  crosses  crown  the  distant  hill. 
At  the  right  stands  St.  John,  a  magnificent  figure, 
giving  utterance  to  his  unspeakable  grief,  while  the 
Virgin,  sinking  in  a  swoon,  is  supported  by  one  of 
the  holy  women. 

Here  is  none  of  that  tenderness  which  we  asso- 
ciate with  the  divine  tragedy,  none  of  that  grace 
and  beauty  which  inheres  in  the  work  of  many  of 
the  Italian  painters  of  the  Renaissance.  All  is  stark 
and  harsh.   It  is  not  food  for  babes,  but  it  is  superb. 

The  Risen  Christ  Between  Saints  Andrew  and 
Longinus  is  Mantegna's  last  engraving.  Christ 
towers  above  the  two  subsidiary  figures,  with  a 
form  and  bearing  which  would  better  befit  a  Roman 
Emperor  returning  in  triumph.  In  this  plate,  above 
all  others,  Mantegna's  technique  shines  forth  as 
not  only  adequate,  but  as  beyond  question  the 
best — perhaps  the  only  one — to  convey  his  mes- 
sage. Translated  into  another  mode,  one  feels 
that  it  would  lose  much  of  its  appeal.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  the  engraving  was  made  as  a  project 
for  a  group  of  statuary — perhaps  for  the  high  altar 
of  S.  Andrea,  in  Mantua,  raised  above  the  most 
precious  relic  possessed  by  the  city,  the  Blood  of 
Christ,  brought  to  Mantua  by  Longinus — a  suppo- 

[145I 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

sition  borne  out  by  the  statuesque  impressiveness 
of  the  group  and  by  the  fact  that  Christ  gazes 
downwards,  as  though  from  a  height. 

Although  1480  is  the  earliest  date  to  which  we 
can  assign  the  first  of  Mantegna's  original  engrav- 
ings, there  were  in  existence,  at  least  five  years 
before  that  time,  engravings  by  other  hands  after 
designs  by  the  master,  and  it  may  have  been  either 
to  protect  himself  from  unauthorized  and  fraudu- 
lent copyists,  or  as  an  artistic  protest  against  the 
incapacity  of  his  translators,  that  Mantegna  was 
compelled  to  take  up  the  graver.  There  has  come 
down  to  us  a  letter,  dated  September  15,  1475,  ad- 
dressed by  Simone  di  Ardizone,  of  Reggio,  to  the 
Marquis  Lodovico,  of  Mantua,  complaining  to  the 
prince  of  Mantegna's  behavior  towards  him.  His 
story  was  that  "Mantegna,  upon  his  arrival  in 
Mantua,  made  him  splendid  offers,  and  treated 
him  with  great  friendliness.  Actuated  by  feelings 
of  compassion,  however,  towards  his  old  friend, 
Zoan  Andrea,  a  painter  in  Mantua,  from  whom 
prints  {stampe)^  drawings,  and  medals  had  been 
stolen,  and  wishing  to  help  in  the  restoration  of  the 
plates,  he  had  worked  with  his  friend  for  four 
months.  As  soon  as  this  came  to  Mantegna's  knowl- 
edge he  proceeded  to  threats,  and  one  evening 
ArdizoneandZoan  Andrea  had  been  assaulted  by  ten 
or  more  armed  men  and  left  for  dead  in  the  square." 

[1461 


:^t- 


"^'\    \ 


y--^   "\W^\    '-A 


X   '•»  .!  f  •  i  111 


ANDREA  MANTEGNA.     THE  RISEN  CHRIST  BETWEEN 
SAINTS  ANDREW  AND  LONGINUS 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  15'.  x  12^4  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


SCHOOL  OF  ANDREA  MANTEGNA.  ADORATION  OF  THE  MAGI 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  15^8  x  iof:+  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

The  letter  is  "proof  that,  in  Mantua,  in  the  year 
1475,  two  professional  engravers,  one  of  whom 
clearly  designates  himself  as  such,  were  at  work. 
It  is  clear  that  Mantegna  had  a  very  spe- 
cial interest  in  the  engravings  and  drawings  which 
had  been  stolen  from  Zoan  Andrea,  and  which 
Ardizone,  'out  of  compassion,'  helped  to  restore, 
since  he  sought  by  force  to  impede  the  engraver's 
work.  His  anger  can  also  be  explained  by  the  sup- 
position that  Zoan  Andrea's  engravings  were  fac- 
similes of  his  own  drawings  which  the  former  had 
succeeded  in  obtaining  possession  of  and  had  used 
as  designs  for  his  engravings;  and  that  being  un- 
able to  win  Ardizone's  assistance  in  his  work 
Mantegna  thought  himself  obliged  to  protest,  by 
violent  means,  against  this  infringement  of  his 
artistic  rights."* 

It  is  probable  that  to  this  drastic  and  effectual 
method  of  protecting  against  piracy  his  own  artistic 
property  we  owe  the  two  renderings,  both  incom- 
plete, of  the  Triumph  of  Ccesar.  One  may  well  be 
the  series  upon  which  Zoan  Andrea  and  Ardizone 
were  working  when  Mantegna  brought  their  labors 
to  an  untimely  close;  whereas  the  second  series, 
although  authorized  by  Mantegna  himself,  may 
have  seemed  to  him,  not  without  just  cause,  so  to 


*  Andrea  Mantegna     By  Paul  Kristeller.   London.    1901.    pp.  381-3^ 
[I49I 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

misinterpret  his  original  drawings  as  to  impel  him 
to  abandon  the  project  and,  in  future,  engrave  his 
own  designs.  The  Triumph  series  naturally  re- 
mained incomplete,  since,  like  every  great  artist, 
Mantegna  would  hardly  feel  disposed  to  repeat,  in 
another  medium,  a  subject  which  he  had  already 
treated.  Of  the  Triumph  plates,  the  Elephants  ap- 
proximates most  closely  Mantegna's  undoubted 
work;  but  the  drawing  lacks  distinction,  and  there 
is  a  feeling  of  ''tightness"  throughout  the  whole 
plate,  which  makes  it  impossible  to  attribute  the 
engraving  to  Mantegna's  own  hand.  The  plate 
which  immediately  follows — Soldiers  Carrying  Tro- 
phies— was  left  unfinished.  The  subject  is  repeated 
in  the  reverse  sense  and  with  the  addition  of  a  pilas- 
ter to  the  right.  This  pilaster  is  probably  Man- 
tegna's original  design  for  the  upright  members 
dividing  the  nine  portions  of  the  painted  Triumphs^ 
since  the  procession  is  supposed  to  pass  upon  the 
further  side  of  a  row  of  columns,  the  figures  and 
animals  being  so  arranged  as  to  extend  over  one 
picture  to  the  next,  with  a  sufficient  space  between 
them  for  the  introduction  of  the  pilaster. 

The  Adoratioyj  of  the  Magi^  which  for  some  reason 
likewise  remained  unfinished,  is  taken  directly  from 
the  central  portion  of  the  triptych  in  the  Uffizi. 
The  engraving,  aside  from  its  intrinsic  beauty,  is 
of  especial  interest  as  affording  an  example  of  the 

[150I 


O       '  < 


GIOVANNI  ANTONIO  DA  BRESCIA.  "  HOLY  FAMILY  WITH 
SAINTS  ELIZABETH  AND  JOHN 

Size  of  original  engraving,  iiK  x  io3^  inclies 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

method  adopted  by  Mantegna  and  his  School.  The 
structural  lines  are  deeply  incised,  in  many  cases  by 
repeated  strokes  of  the  graver.  The  diagonal  shad- 
ing is  then  added  and  the  plate  carried  forward  and 
completed,  bit  by  bit.  This  engraving,  at  one  time 
accounted  an  original  work  by  the  master  himself, 
has  received  of  recent  years  more  than  its  merited 
share  of  harsh  criticism.  It  obviously  falls  far 
short,  in  beauty,  of  Mantegna's  painting;  but,  for 
all  that,  it  preserves  many  of  the  essential  qualities 
of  its  immediate  original,  and  one  cannot  but  ad- 
mire the  manner  in  which  an  engraver,  certainly 
not  of  the  first  rank,  has  captured  the  spirit  of 
humility  and  adoration,  eloquent  in  every  line  of 
the  king  at  the  left,  humbly  bending  to  receive  the 
benediction  of  the  Christ  Child. 

By  an  engraver  of  the  Mantegna  School,  perhaps 
ZoAN  Andrea,  working  in  Mantegna's  manner  and 
after  his  design  for  the  Parnassus  in  the  Louvre,  is 
Four  Women  Dancing — one  of  the  most  charming 
and  graceful  prints  of  the  period.  It  differs  in  many 
particulars  from  the  painting  (assigned  to  the  year 
1 497)  and  almost  certainly  translates  Mantegna's 
drawing,  rather  than  the  painting  itself. 

To  Giovanni  Antonio  da  Brescia,  of  whose  life, 
apart  from  what  we  may  learn  from  a  study  of  his 
work,  we  know  substantially  nothing,  may  be  at- 
tributed the  Holy  Family  with  Saints  Elizabeth  and 

[153] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

John,  based  upon  a  design  by  Mantegna,  of  about 
1500,  and  probably  engraved  at  a  date  prior  to 
Mantegna's  death,  September  13,  1506.  At  a  later 
period,  Giovanni  came  under  the  influence  of 
Marcantonio  Raimondi,  whose  style  he  imperfectly 
assimilated. 

In  the  British  Museum  there  is  a  unique  im- 
pression of  a  Profile  Bust  of  a  Young  Woman,  which 
has  been  ascribed,  with  some  show  of  reason,  to 
Leonardo  da  Vinci.  Its  intrinsic  beauty  might 
lend  some  color  to  this  attribution,  were  it  not  that, 
even  in  its  reworked  condition,  the  texture  and  flow 
of  the  young  woman's  abundant  tresses,  the  treat- 
ment of  the  flowing  ribbons,  and  the  delicate  shad- 
ing in  the  face  and  upon  the  garment,  betray  the 
hand  of  the  trained  engraver. 

NicoLETTO  RosEX  DA  MoDENA  was  Working  from 
about  1490  to  1 515.  He  engraved  almost  a  hundred 
plates,  the  majority  of  them  being  presumably 
from  his  own  designs,  though  in  the  Adoration  of 
the  Shepherds  the  influence  of  Schongauer  is  mark- 
edly apparent,  and  in  Fortune  and  St.  Sebastian  the 
inspiration  of  Mantegna  is  clearly  to  be  seen. 

The  group  of  trees  in  the  Fate  of  the  Evil  Tongue 
is  borrowed  from  Diirer's  print  of  Hercules,  while 
the  Turkish  Family  and  the  Four  Naked  Women — 
the  last-named  being  dated  1500 — are  copies  of 
Diirer's  engravings.    Vedriani,  writing  of  Nicoletto 

[154] 


SCHOOL  OF  LEONARDO  DA  VINCL     PROFILE  BUST  OF  A 
YOUNG  WOMAN 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  4M  x  3  inches 
In  the  British  Museum 


NICOLETTO  ROSEX  DA  MODENA.     ORPHEUS 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  <)H  x  6K  inches 
In  the  British  Museum 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

as  a  painter,  speaks  of  him  as  "chiefly  distinguished 
in  perspective,"  and  among  the  most  charming  of 
his  plates  in  which  this  quality  is  seen  is  Orpheus. 
The  bare  tree  is  suggestive  of  Martin  Schongauer, 
while  the  birds  and  beasts,  including  a  dog,  a  pea- 
cock, a  weasel,  a  monkey  playing  with  a  tortoise, 
a  squirrel,  a  snake,  a  piping  bird,  two  rabbits,  a 
fox,  and  a  stag,  not  to  speak  of  the  ducks  and 
swans  in  the  water,  though  not  copied  from  north- 
ern originals,  have  all  the  charm  and  lifelike  quality 
which  we  find  in  the  work  of  German  engravers 
such  as  The  Master  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  and 
The  Master  E.  S.  of  1466. 

Concerning  Jacopo  de'  Barbari  there  is  a  wealth 
of  biographical  material,  in  contrast  with  the  mea- 
gerness  of  our  knowledge  concerning  the  earlier 
Italian  engravers.  Born  at  Venice,  between  1440 
and  1450,  he  is  known  to  have  worked  between 
1500  and  1508  for  the  Emperor  and  various  other 
princes  in  different  towns  of  Germany.  He  was  at 
Nuremberg  in  1505,  and  in  15 10  he  was  in  the 
service  of  the  Archduchess  Margaret,  Regent  of  the 
Netherlands,  while,  in  the  inventory  of  the  Regent's 
pictures  of  1515-1516,  he  is  referred  to  as  dead. 

Not  one  of  the  thirty  engravings  by  Jacopo  is 
signed  with  his  name,  initials,  or  any  form  of  mono- 
gram, nor  does  any  of  them  bear  a  date.  His  em- 
blem is  the  caduceus,  which  appears  on  the  greater 

[157] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

number  of  his  prints;  and  those  upon  which  it  is 
lacking  can  readily  be  identified  by  his  individual 
style.  This  style  undergoes  certain  modifications 
with  the  passing  years.  In  the  early  period,  the 
shading,  for  the  most  part,  is  in  parallel  lines,  which 
follow  the  contour  of  the  figure,  the  figure  itself 
being  long  and  sinuous.  In  his  middle  and  later 
period  he  indulged  more  freely  in  cross-hatching, 
and  the  faces  are  modelled  with  greater  delicacy. 
Stress  has  been  laid  upon  the  influence  exerted 
by  Jacopo  upon  Diirer's  engraving:  but  with  the 
exception  of  the  Apollo  and  Diana  this  influence  is 
theoretical  rather  than  artistic.  Diirer,  in  one  of 
the  manuscript  sketches,  dated  1523,  for  his  book 
The  Theory  oj  Human  Proportions^  writes:  '*How- 
beit,  I  can  find  none  such  who  hath  written  aught 
about  how  to  form  a  canon  of  human  proportion, 
save  one  man — Jacopo  by  name,  born  at  Venice, 
and  a  charming  painter.  He  showed  me  the  figures 
of  a  man  and  a  woman,  which  he  had  drawn  ac- 
cording to  a  canon  of  proportions,  so  that,  at  that 
time,  I  would  rather  have  seen  what  he  meant  than 
be  shown  a  new  kingdom.  .  .  .  Then,  how- 
ever, I  was  still  young  and  had  not  heard  of  such 
things  before.  Howbeit,  I  was  very  fond  of  art,  so 
I  set  myself  to  discover  how  such  a  canon  might  be 
wrought  out."  Diirer  undoubtedly  refers  to  the 
period  of  his  first  visit  to  Venice,  and  it  is,  accord- 

[k8] 


JACOPO  DE'  BARBARI.     APOLLO  AND  DIANA 

Size  o-f  the  original  engraving,  5^  x  3H  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


JACOPO  DE'  BARBARI.  ST.  CATHERINE 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  "]%  x  453  inches 

In  the  British  Museum 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

ingly,  In  Diirer's  earliest  plates  that  we  see  most 
clearly  the  influence  of  the  older  master  on  his 
technical  method.  Diirer  soon  outstripped  Jacopo 
in  everything  that  pertains  to  the  technical  side  of 
engraving  and  worked  out  for  himself  a  method 
which,  for  his  purpose,  was  substantially  perfect. 

In  such  plates  as  Judith  and  St.  Catherine^  Ja- 
copo's  love  for  long,  flowing  lines  finds  its  fullest 
expression.  There  is  a  grace  about  these  single 
figures  which  is  not  without  appealing  charm, 
though  obviously  they  leave  something  to  be  de- 
sired on  the  score  of  solidity  and  structure. 

GiROLAMO  MocETTO,  bom  in  Murano  before 
1458,  was  living  at  Venice  in  1514,  where  he  died 
after  1531.  According  to  Vasari,  Mocetto  was,  at 
some  time,  an  assistant  to  Giovanni  Bellini,  whose 
influence  may  be  traced  in  his  work.  His  engravings 
are  unpleasing  in  style  and  often  clumsy  in  draughts- 
manship. He  owes  such  merit  as  he  may  possess 
to  the  originals  which  he  interpreted.  There  is  a 
compelling  power  in  Judith^  after  Mantegna's  de- 
sign, which  atones  for  even  so  shapeless  a  member 
as  Judith's  right  hand.  The  grandeur  of  the  plate 
is,  however,  derived  from  Mantegna.  Mocetto  has 
done  little  more  than  traduce  it;  but,  even  so,  the 
engraving  is  noteworthy,  inasmuch  as  it  preserves 
for  us  a  noble  composition,  of  which  otherwise  we 
might  remain  in  ignorance.  The  Baptism  of  Christ 

[161I 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

is  adapted,  with  some  modifications,  from  Giovanni 
Bellini's  painting  executed  between  1500  and  1510. 
In  the  engraving,  the  landscape,  which  differs  radi- 
cally from  that  in  Bellini's  painting,  may  possibly 
be  original  with  Mocetto,  though  it  recalls  the  work 
of  Cima,  whose  Baptism,  in  S.  Giovanni  in  Bragora, 
Venice,  was  painted  in  1494. 

Benedetto  Montagna  was,  like  Mocetto, 
painter  as  well  as  engraver.  His  earliest  engravings 
are  executed  in  a  large,  open  manner,  which  can  be 
seen  to  advantage  in  the  Sacrifice  of  Abraham.  The 
outline  is  strongly  defined  and  the  shading  chiefly 
in  parallel  lines.  Where  cross-hatching  is  used,  it  is 
laid  generally  at  right  angles.  Later,  Montagna 
modifies  his  style  and  adopts  the  finer  system  of 
cross-hatching  perfected  by  Diirer,  whose  influ- 
ence, especially  in  the  backgrounds,  is  clearly  to  be 
traced,  and  whose  Nativity,  of  the  year  1 504,  Mon- 
tagna copied  in  reverse.  St.  Jerome  Beneath  an 
Arch  of  Rock  belongs  to  this  later  period,  and  the 
plate  is  probably  based  upon  a  painting  by  Barto- 
lommeo  Montagna,  the  engraver's  father. 

GiuLTO  Campagnola,  born  at  Padua  about  1482, 
is  known  to  have  been  working  in  Venice  in  1507 
and  is  assumed  to  have  died  shortly  after  15 14. 
According  to  contemporary  accounts,  he  was  a 
youth  of  marvellously  precocious  and  varied  gifts 
and  promise.  To  his  musical  and  literary  accom- 

[162I 


^         0, 


CAMPAGNOLA. 


GIULIO  CAMPAGNOLA.     GANYMEDE  (First  State) 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  6H  x  4>^  inches 

In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

plishments,  he  added  those  of  painter,  miniaturist, 
engraver,  and  sculptor. 

His  engravings  betray  markedly  the  influence  of 
Giorgione,  and  his  manner  of  engraving  may  have 
been  an  attempt  to  imitate  the  rich  softness  of  that 
master's  painting.  He  worked  out  and  perfected  a 
technical  system  all  his  own.  In  his  earliest 
manner  he  works  in  pure  line,  as  in  his  copies  of 
Diirer's  engravings  and  in  such  plates  as  the  Old 
Shepherd  and  St.  Jerome. 

In  the  Young  Shepherd^  the  Astrologer,  and 
Christ  and  the  Woman  of  Samaria,  the  composition 
is  first  engraved  in  simple,  open  lines,  with  little 
cross-hatching.  The  plate  is  then  carried  forward 
and  completed  by  a  system  of  delicate  flicks,  so 
disposed  as  to  produce  a  harmonious  result,  ob- 
literating substantially  all  trace  of  the  preliminary 
line  work.  In  the  third  group,  to  which  two  prints 
belong — Naked  Woman  Reclining  and  The  Stag — 
no  lines  at  all  are  used,  and  the  plate  is  carried  out, 
from  first  to  last,  in  flick  work. 

Only  one  of  Campagnola's  plates  is  dated — the 
Astrologer,  o{  1509.  In  this  he  shows  himself  ripe, 
both  as  artist  and  as  craftsman.  To  an  earlier 
period  would  seem  to  belong  the  Ganymede,  in 
which  the  landscape  is  a  faithful  copy  of  Diirer's 
engraving  of  the  Virgin  ayjd  Child  with  a  Moyikey. 
The  place  which,  in   the  original  engraving,  was 

[16^] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

occupied  by  the  Virgin,  is  now  filled  by  a  clump  of 
trees. 

Sl  John  the  Baptist  is,  all  things  considered, 
Campagnola's  masterpiece.  The  figure  is  unques- 
tionably based  upon  a  drawing  by  Mantegna,  and 
has  all  the  largeness  and  grandeur  of  style  which 
characterizes  the  work  of  that  master.  The  land- 
scape background  may  be  original  with  the  en- 
graver but  it  clearly  shows  the  influence  of  Gior- 
gione.  In  this  superb  plate  Campagnola's  method 
of  combining  line  work  with  delicate  flick  work  can 
be  studied  at  its  best.  The  Young  Shepherd^  known 
in  two  states — the  first  in  pure  line,  the  second 
completed  with  flick  work — is  as  charming  and 
graceful  as  St.  John  the  Baptist  is  monumental.  It 
justly  deserves  the  reputation  and  popularity  which 
it  enjoys  among  print  lovers. 

Christ  and  the  Woman  of  Samaria  is  treated  in  a 
more  open  manner  than  either  of  the  two  preceding 
engravings.  The  beautiful  landscape,  as  also  the  hill 
to  the  left,  is  entirely  in  line,  while  the  flick  work 
upon  the  figures  and  garments  and,  even  more  no- 
ticeably, in  the  foreground  to  the  right,  is  of  a  more 
open  character  than  that  which  appears  in  the 
Young  Shepherd,  It  may  belong  to  the  latter  part 
of  Campagnola's  career  as  an  engraver.  There  is  an 
amplitude  in  the  design  of  the  seated  woman  which 
suggests  Giorgione  and  Palma,  though  one  cannot 

[i66] 


U 

^f 

li.-.....LJi.                  .      ...                                                                                                                                     .                    ..                .         ^ 

.4  • 

GIULIO  CAMPAGNOLA.     ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  13 5  s  x  9K  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


ho    cj 


—      3 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

definitely  name  any  painting  by  either  of  these 
masters  from  which  Campagnola  has  borrowed  his 
figure. 

The  last  of  Campagnola's  plates,  left  unfinished 
at  his  death  and  completed  by  Domenico  Campag- 
nola, is  Shepherds  in  a  Landscape  or,  as  it  is  some- 
times called,  the  Musical  Shepherds.  The  original 
drawing,  in  reverse,  for  the  right-hand  half  of  this 
print  is  in  the  Louvre.  It  is  unquestionably  by 
Giulio  Campagnola;  but,  equally  without  question, 
the  left-hand  portion  of  the  engraving  itself  is  by 
Domenico.  Whether  Domenico  was  a  close  relative 
or  merely  a  pupil  of  Giulio's  has  not  been  deter- 
mined; but  the  Shepherds  in  a  Landscape  conclu- 
sively proves  that  he  was  at  least  the  artistic  heir 
of  the  older  master.  Domenico's  style  is  in  marked 
contrast  to  that  of  Giulio.  Flick  work  is  almost 
absent  from  his  engravings,  which  are  executed  in 
rather  open  lines,  more  in  the  mode  of  an  etcher 
than  of  an  engraver  working  according  to  estab- 
lished tradition.  The  skies,  in  particular,  have  a 
romantic  quality  which  is  all  their  own,  and  which 
can  be  seen  to  advantage  in  the  Shepherd  and  the 
Old  Warrior^  dated  1517. 

Marcantonio  Raimondi,  born  in  Bologna  about 
1480,  for  over  three  centuries  enjoyed  a  reputation 
eclipsing  that  of  any  other  Italian  master.  Of  re- 
cent years,  however,  upon  insuflicient  grounds,  he 

[169] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

has  been  somewhat  pushed  aside  and  behttled  as  a 
''reproductive  engraver,"  his  critics  wilfully  for- 
getting the  fact  that,  with  the  exception  of  Pollai- 
uolo  and  Mantegna,  the  Italian  School  is,  in  the 
main,  derivative,  and  cannot  boast  of  any  original 
engravers  of  world-wide  fame,  such  as  Schongauer 
or  Diirer.  But  Marcantonio  was  far  from  being  a 
mere  translator  of  alien  works.  "He  is  like  some 
great  composer  who  borrows  another's  theme  only 
to  make  it  his  own  by  the  originality  of  his  setting."* 

The  earliest  influence  which  w^e  may  trace  in 
Marcantonio's  work  is  that  of  the  famous  goldsmith 
and  painter,  Francesco  Francia,  with  whom  Marc- 
antonio served  his  apprenticeship.  Certain  nielH, 
among  them  Pyramus  and  Thisbe  and  Avion  on  the 
Dolphin^  have  been  assigned  to  the  young  Marc- 
antonio and  attributed  to  this  period  of  his  life. 

St.  George  and  the  Dragon  is  strongly  reminiscent 
of  the  niello  technique,  with  its  dark  shadows, 
against  which  the  figures  stand  out  in  relief.  The 
landscape  is  clearly  borrowed  or  adapted  from  en- 
gravings in  Diirer's  earlier  period,  the  trees  at  the 
left,  in  particular,  recalling  the  Hercules. 

To  this  early  period  likewise  belongs  Pyramus 
and  Thisbe^  which  bears  the  earliest  date — 1505 — 
which  we  find  upon  any  of  his  engravings.    It  may 

*  Marcantonio  Raimondi.     By  Arthur   M.   Hind.    The  Print-Collector's 
Quarterly,  Vol.  3,  No.  3.      p.  276. 

[170] 


MARCANTONIO  RAIMONDI.     BATHERS 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  1 1  >4  x  9  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


MARCANTONIO  RAIMONDI.     ST.  CECILIA 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  io'4  x  6H  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


MARCANTONIO  RAIMONDI.     DEATH  OF  LUCRETIA 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  8K  x  5K  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

well  have  been  executed  during  his  residence  in 
Venice,  between  1505  and  1509. 

The  Bathers^  of  15 10,  is  an  artistic  record  of 
Marcantonio's  visit  to  Florence,  on  his  way  to 
Rome.  The  figures  are  taken  from  Michelangelo's 
cartoon  of  the  Battle  of  Pisa;  but  the  landscape, 
including  the  thatched  barn  to  the  right,  is  a  faith- 
ful copy,  in  reverse,  of  Lucas  van  Leyden's  plate  of 
Mahomet  and  the  Monk  Ser^gius;  for  Marcantonio, 
like  all  great  artists,  freely  borrowed  his  material 
wherever  he  found  it,  shaping  it  to  his  own  ends. 

According  to  Vasari,  it  was  the  Death  of  Lucretia^ 
engraved  shortly  after  Marcantonio's  arrival  in 
Rome,  about  15 10,  after  a  drawing  by  Raphael, 
which  attracted  the  attention  of  that  master  and 
showed  him  how  much  he  might  benefit  by  the 
reproduction  of  his  work.  One  would  be  inclined 
to  think  that  the  Death  of  Dido  rather  than  the 
Death  of  Lucretia  might  have  been  the  means  of 
bringing  about  this  artistic  collaboration;  for,  if 
Vasari  is  correct,  the  immediate  result  of  Raphael's 
personal  influence  upon  Marcantonio  was  harmful 
rather  than  helpful,  the  Lucretia  by  general  consent 
being  the  finer  plate  of  the  two. 

It  is  significant  that  none  of  Marcantonio's 
engravings  interprets  any  existing  painting  by 
Raphael.  We  may  infer  that  the  engraver  worked 
entirely  after  drawings  supplied  to  him  by  Raphael 

[17^1 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

— either  drawings  made  for  the  purpose  of  being 
interpreted  in  terms  of  engraving,  or  the  original 
studies  for  paintings,  which,  in  their  elaboration, 
were  subjected  to  many  modifications  and  changes. 

Among  his  most  interesting  engravings  are 
Saint  Cecilia^  which  may  be  compared,  or  rather 
contrasted,  with  the  famous  painting  in  Bologna; 
the  Virgin  and  Child  in  the  Clouds^  which  later  ap- 
pears as  the  Madonna  di  Foligno;  and  Poetry^  based 
on  a  study  by  Raphael  for  the  fresco  in  the  Camera 
della  Segnatura,  in  the  Vatican. 

The  Massacre  of  the  Innocents,  usually  accounted 
the  engraver's  masterpiece,  is  one  of  several  sub- 
jects of  which  two  plates  exist.  Authorities  disagree 
as  to  which  is  the  ''original,"  but  some  familiarity 
with  both  versions  leads  one  to  think  that  Marcan- 
tonio  may  well  have  been  his  own  interpreter.  At 
least  one  cannot  name  certainly  any  other  en- 
graver capable  of  producing  either  of  the  two 
versions  of  the  Massacre  of  the  Innocents,  in  point 
of  drawing  or  of  technique. 

Among  Marcantonio's  portrait  plates  one  of  the 
most  attractive  is  that  oi  Philotheo  Achillini  ("The 
Guitar  Player"),  which  is  in  his  early  manner  and 
probably  dates  from  his  Bolognese  period.  It  may 
be  based  upon  a  drawing  by  Francia,  but  the  trees 
and  distant  landscape  all  show  markedly  the  influ- 
ence of  Diirer. 

[176] 


MARCANTONIO  RAIMONDI.     PHILOTHEO  ACHILLINI 

("The  Guitar  Player") 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  7K  x  5^4  inches 

In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


IPETRVS    AftRETINVS    .ACERPJMVS  VIRT\  T/M  AC  V1TIORVA4 
DEMOSTRATOR 


MARCAXTONIO  RAIMONDI.     PIETRO  ARETINO 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  -jH  x  ^'H  inches 
In  the  British  Museum 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING 

To  a  much  later  period,  and  engraved  in  Marc- 
antonio's  most  mature  manner,  belongs  the  por- 
trait o{  Pietf'o  Aretino.  Vasari  refers  to  this  plate  as 
'^engraved  from  life,"  but  its  richness  and  color 
would  seem  to  point  to  an  original  by  Titian  or 
Sebastiano  del  Piombo. 

i\fter  the  death  of  Raphael,  in  1520,  Marcanto- 
nio's  engraving  undergoes  a  change — a  change  for 
the  worse,  as  might  be  expected,  since  a  number  of 
his  plates  are  interpretations  of  designs  by  Giulio 
Romano.  There  is  less  care  in  the  drawing,  less 
delicacy  in  the  management  of  the  burin,  and, 
although  we  may  pity  him  for  the  loss  of  all  that 
he  possessed  at  the  sack  of  Rome,  in  1527,  we  can- 
not greatly  regret  that,  as  an  engraver,  Marc- 
antonio's  active  life  terminates  with  that  date. 


179] 


ITALIAN  ENGRAVING:  MANTEGNA  TO 
MARCANTONIO  RAIMONDI 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 
Mantegna,  Andrea  (1431— 1506) 

DiJRER  AND  Mantegna.  By  Sidney  Colvin.  5  illustrations.  The  Portfolio, 
Vol.  8,  pp.  54-63.    London.    1877. 

Andrea  Mantegna  and  the  Italian  Pre-Raphaelite  Engravers.  Edited 
by  Arthur  Mayger  Hind.  75  reproductions.  London  and  New  York:  Fred- 
erick A.  Stokes  Company,    n.  d.    (Great  Engravers.) 

Andrea  Mantegna.  By  Paul  Kristeller.  26  plates  and  162  text  illustrations. 
London:  Longmans,  Green  &  Co.  1901.  Chapter  XI,  Mantegna  as  Engraver. 

Mantegna.  By  H.  Thode.  105  illustrations.  Bielefeld  and  Leipzig:  Vel- 
hagen  &  Klasing.    1897.    (Kiinstler  Monographien.    27.) 

Barbari,  Jacopo  de'  (c.  1440-C.  1515) 

Engravings  and  Woodcuts  by  Jacopo  de'  Barbari.  Edited  by  Paul  Kris- 
teller.  23  reproductions  and  1  text  illustrations.  London.  1896.  (Interna- 
tional Chalcographical  Society,  1896.) 

Lorenzo  Lotto.  By  Bernhard  Berenson.  30  plates.  New  York:  Putnam's 
Sons.    1895.    pp.  34-50. 

Campagnola,  Giulio  (c.  1482-C.  1514) 

GiuLio  Campagnola;  Kupferstiche  und  Zeichnungen.  Edited  by  Paul 
Kristeller.  27  reproductions.  Berlin:  Bruno  Cassirer.  1907.  (Graphische 
Gesellschaft.    Publication  5.) 

Marcantonio  Raimondi  (c.  1480-C.  1530) 

Marc-Antoine  Raimondi;  etude  historiq.ue  et  critique  suivie  d'un 
catalogue  raisonne  des  oeuvres  du  maitre.  By  Henri  Delaborde.  63  illus- 
trations.   Paris:  Librairie  de  I'art.    1888. 

Marcantonio  Raimondi.  By  Arthur  Mayger  Hind.  22  illustrations.  The 
Print-Collector's  Quarterly,  Vol.  3,  No.  3,  pp.  243-276.    Boston.    191 3. 

Marcantonio  and  Italian  Engravers  and  Etchers  of  the  Sixteenth 
Century.  Edited  by  Arthur  Mayger  Hind.  65  reproductions.  London  and 
New  York:  Frederick  A.  Stokes  Company,    n.  d.    (Great  Engravers.) 


180] 


SOME  MASTERS  OF  PORTRAITURE 

YOU  will  all  remember  how  John  Evelyn,  writ- 
ing to  Samuel  Pepys,  advised  him  to  collect 
engraved  portraits — since,  in  his  own  words,  "Some 
are  so  well  done  to  the  life,  that  they  may  stand 
comparison  with  the  best  paintings."  He  then  adds: 
"This  were  a  cheaper,  and  so  much  a  more  useful, 
curiosity,  as  they  seldom  are  without  their  names, 
ages  and  eulogies  of  the  persons  whose  portraits 
they  represent.  I  say  you  will  be  exceedingly 
pleased  to  contemplate  the  effigies  of  those  who 
have  made  such  a  noise  and  bustle  in  the  world; 
either  by  their  madness  and  folly;  or  a  more  con- 
spicuous figure,  by  their  wit  and  learning.  Thev 
will  greatly  refresh  you  in  your  study  and  by  your 
fireside,  when  you  are  many  years  returned."  We 
know  by  his  "Diary"  that  Pepys  became  an  en- 
thusiastic collector  and  that  he  went  over  to  Paris 
to  buy  many  of  Robert  Nanteuil's  engraved  por- 
traits— at  a  later  date  commissioning  his  wife  to 
secure  for  him  many  more,  which  he  strongly 
desired. 

From  the  time  of  Evelyn  and  Pepys  in  England, 
and  that  prince  of  print-collectors  in  France,  the 

[i8i] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

Abbe  de  Marolles — who  in  1666  could  boast  of 
possessing  over  123,000  prints,  ''and  all  the  por- 
traits extant" — portraits  have  had,  for  the  student, 
a  peculiar  fascination,  and  it  may  be  interesting  to 
consider  briefly  the  work  of  some  six  or  eight  of  the 
acknowledged  masters  of  the  art. 

Aside  from  two  unimportant  plates  by  the  Mas- 
ter of  the  Amsterdam  Cabinet,  which  may,  or  may 
not,  be  portraits,  the  earliest  engraver  to  address 
himself  to  portraiture,  pure  and  simple,  is  the 
anonymous  German  master  with  the  monogram 

\^^8^lj.  So  far  as  we  know,  he  executed  four 
plates  only  (c.  1480-1485).  In  them  the  character- 
ization is  strong,  the  drawing  clear  and  vigorous. 
The  artist's  technique  may  have  owed  something  to 
Martin  Schongauer,  but  it  is  singularly  lacking  in 
the  refinement  and  balance  which  mark  the  work 
of  that  engraver. 

Daniel  Hopfer,  who,  in  1493,  was  already  work- 
ing in  Augsburg,  has  left  us  an  etching,  which  cer- 
tainly cannot  be  later  than  1504,  and  may  have 
been  executed  five,  or  even  ten,  years  earlier.  It 
is  a  portrait  of  Kunz  von  der  Rosen,  the  Jester- 
Adviser  of  the  Emperor  Maximilian  I.  The  etching 
is  upon  iron,  and  the  quality  of  the  line  is  well 
adapted  to  the  rugged  character  of  the  personage. 
This  plate  was  copied,  in  reverse,  with  some  modi- 
fications, by  an  anonymous  North  Italian  engraver 

[182] 


MASTER  NX^B.     HEAD  OF  A  YOUNG  WOMAN 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  4K  x  jH  inches 

In  the  Royal  Print  Room,  Berlin 


^ -. .^ "^Albert v^s" •  avid i  5 a- saxg 

Tl.OA\AN.\E'ECCL.\£  TI-5AM 
CHRY50G0MPBR  CARDIKA 

t  'i^y  ^f^i.^^^^i    EP^  'ELECTOR' IMPEPRU\j55 

^--^^^:'_^%4  fi   ADA\iNI'HALBER'A\ARCHi-   ' 

BRANDENBVRGENSIS 


\^^- 


iC^  OCVLO^     vSrC    ILLE     GENA^  •  vSIO  i 
t  ORAt  FER.EBAT   > 

Anno    etati^jve  ^xxi  x  ^ 

^   A\  ■  D     >(:  r  X  • 


ALBRECHT  DURER.  ALBERT  OF  BRANDENBURG 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  5K  x  3H  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


MASTERS  OF  PORTRAITURE 

and  reappears  as  Gonsalvo  of  Cordova^  who  was  in 
Italy,  in  command  of  the  army  of  Ferdinand  V 
of  Castile,  between  1494  and  1504,  when  Ferdi- 
nand's jealousy  caused  him  to  be  superseded  in 
the  Vice  Royalty  of  Naples. 

The  earliest  in  date  of  Durer's  engraved  por- 
traits is  likewise  the  best.  Albert  of  Brandenburg 
was  twenty-nine  years  of  age,  in  15 19,  when  Diirer 
engraved  this  plate.  There  is  a  concentration  upon 
the  purely  portrait  element  lacking  in  some  of  the 
later  prints.  The  burin  work  is  singularly  delicate 
and  beautiful.  Indeed,  nothing  better,  from  a  tech- 
nical standpoint,  has  ever  been  done  on  copper  than 
Durer's  six  portrait  plates;  and  if  he  at  times  suc- 
cumbs to  the  temptation  of  rendering  each  minor 
detail  with  the  same  loving  care  which  he  bestows 
upon  the  face  itself,  he  remains,  notwithstanding, 
one  of  the  greatest  masters  of  the  burin  the  world 
has  seen. 

Diirer  engraved  a  second  plate  o{  Albey^t  oj  Bran- 
denburg^ in  1523.  The  intervening  four  years  had 
left  their  mark  upon  the  Cardinal,  and  neither  as 
a  portrait  nor  as  an  engraving  is  it  as  pleasing  as 
the  earlier  one.  In  the  following  year,  1524,  there 
are  two  portraits — Frederic  the  Wise,  Elector  of 
Saxony  and  Wilibald  Pirkheimer.  The  former  was 
one  of  the  earliest  patrons  of  Diirer  and  likewise 
one  of  the  most  liberal-minded  princes  of  his  time. 

[185] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

The  plate  is  executed  in  Diirer's  painstaking  and 
careful  manner,  nor  does  it  lack,  as  a  portrait, 
the  directness  and  immediacy  of  appeal  of  the 
silver-point  drawing,  which  may  have  served  as 
its  original.  Wilibald  Pirkheimer,  the  celebrated 
patrician  and  humanist,  was  Diirer's  life-long 
and  most  intimate  friend,  and  it  is  to  him  that 
Diirer's  letters  from  Venice  were  addressed. 

Philip  Melanchthon  is  the  simplest  in  treatment 
and  the  most  satisfying,  in  its  elimination  of  un- 
necessary detail,  of  Diirer's  portrait  engravings, 
and  is  the  best  likeness  of  the  mild  reformer.  The 
inscription  reads:  **Diirer  could  depict  the  features 
of  the  living  Philip,  but  the  skilled  hand  could  not 
depict  his  mind."  Here  Diirer  does  himself  less 
than  justice,  for  it  is  the  portrait-like  character 
which  makes  this  engraving  still  noteworthy  after 
the  lapse  of  four  centuries. 

To  the  same  year,  1526,  belongs  Erasmus  of 
Rotterdam.  It  is  a  technical  masterpiece.  Diirer 
has  lavished  all  his  skill  upon  this  plate.  It  is 
magnificent;  but  from  a  purely  portrait  standpoint, 
it  is  a  magnificent  failure. 

For  a  full  hundred  years  we  have  no  portraits  of 
note;  then  there  enters  upon  the  scene  one  of  the 
great  princes  of  the  art — Van  Dyck — whose  etched 
portraits  vie  with  those  of  Rembrandt  in  vitality, 
and  surpass  them  in  immediacy  of  appeal.  Van 

[186] 


i 


,  V  IVEN  TIS  P  OTV ITDVRERIMV  -  OR.\  PHI  LIPPI  , 
AVeNTEW'KON  POTVITPINGHRE -DO C1\ 
A\AN\S 


ALBRECHT  DURER.     PHILJP  MELANCHTHON 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  6H  x  ^  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


ANTHONY  VAN  DYCK.     PORTRAIT  OF  HIMSELF  (First  State) 

Size  of  the  original  etching,  9K  x  Syi  inches 

In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


MASTERS  OF  PORTRAITURE 

Dyck  had  not  that  deep  humanity,  that  profound 
reading  of  human  character,  which  raises  Rem- 
brandt above  all  rivals;  but  upon  the  purely  tech- 
nical side,  working  within  the  truest  traditions  of 
etching,  with  due  regard  to  its  possibilities  and  its 
limitations.  Van  Dyck  may  claim  precedence.  His 
fifteen  original  portrait  etchings  (together  with 
Erasmus  of  Rotterdam^  after  Holbein)  undoubtedly 
belong  to  the  period  between  his  return  from  Italy 
to  Antwerp,  in  1626,  and  his  settlement  in  London, 
in  1632.  From  the  very  first,  Van  Dyck  seems  to 
have  been  in  possession  of  all  his  powers.  His  etch- 
ings show  various  modes  of  treatment,  according  to 
the  character  of  the  sitter,  and  it  would  be  difficult 
to  speak  of  the  development  of  his  art,  since,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  he  seems  to  have  been  a  born  etcher. 
Van  Dyck's  Portrait  of  Himself  naturally  inter- 
ests us  most,  on  account  of  its  subject.  So  far  as 
Van  Dyck  has  seen  fit  to  carry  it,  it  is  a  perfect 
work  of  art,  not  the  least  remarkable  feature  being 
the  splendid  placing  of  the  head  upon  the  plate. 
Unfortunately,  the  first  state  is  of  such  excessive 
rarity  that  the  majority  of  print  students  can  know 
this  superb  portrait  only  through  reproductions  (in 
which  much  of  its  delicacy  is  necessarily  lost)  or, 
in  the  later  state,  where  the  plate  is  finished  with 
the  graver  by  Jacob  Neefs — a  distressing  piece  of 
work,    strangely    enough,    countenanced    by    Van 

[189] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

Dyck  himself;  since  in  the  British  Museum  there 
is  a  touched  counter-proof  of  the  first  state,  which 
proves  that  Van  Dyck  directed  the  elaboration  of 
the  plate,  no  doubt  with  the  intention  of  using  it 
as  a  title  page  to  the  Iconography^  a  series  of  a 
hundred  engraved  portraits  of  his  friends  and  con- 
temporaries. 

Of  even  subtler  beauty  is  Snyders^  unfortunately 
— like  the  portrait  of  Van  Dyck  himself — of  the 
greatest  rarity  and  also,  like  that  plate,  finished 
with  the  graver  by  Jacob  Neefs.  It  is  perfectly 
satisfying  from  every  point  of  view,  combining,  as 
it  does,  the  greatest  freedom  with  absolute  certainty 
of  hand.  The  treatment  of  the  face  shows  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  all  the  technical  resources 
of  the  art,  the  high  lights  having  been  "stopped 
out"  exactly  where  needed,  the  etched  dots  and 
lines  melting  into  a  perfect  harmony. 

In  marked  contrast  to  the  delicacy  of  Snyders 
is  the  bolder  and  more  rugged  treatment  of  Jan 
Snellinx.  Fortunately,  the  plate  has  remained,  un- 
til our  own  day,  in  essentially  the  same  condition 
as  when  it  left  Van  Dyck's  hands,  and  we  can  bet- 
ter realize  what  an  artistic  treasure-house  the  Icon- 
ography might  have  been,  had  the  public  possessed 
the  intelligence  to  appreciate,  at  their  true  worth, 
these  fine  flowerings  of  Van  Dyck's  genius,  instead 
of  demanding,  as  they  did,  that  a  plate  be  abso- 

[190] 


i^i5^\'»' 


ANTHONY  VAN  DYCK      FRANS  SNYDERS  (First  State) 

Size  of  the  original  etching,  9^x6^  inches 

In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


ANTHONY  VAN  DYCK.     LUCAS  VORSTERMAN  (First  State) 
Size  of  the  original  engraving,  g^i  x  6yi  inches 
In  the  Collection  of  Charles  C.  Walker,  Esq. 


MASTERS  OF  PORTRAITURE 

lutely  ''finished"  to  the  four  corners  by  the  pro- 
fessional engraver. 

Lucas  Vorsterman  is,  in  some  ways,  the  most 
purely  pictorial  of  Van  Dyck's  portrait  etchings. 
Even  the  taste  of  the  time  demanded  no  further 
elaboration  than  an  engraved  background,  which, 
judiciously  added,  left  undisturbed  Van  Dyck's 
original  work. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  whether  Rem- 
brandt was  acquainted  with  the  etched  work  of 
Van  Dyck.  If  so,  it  is  all  the  more  astounding  that 
his  work  should  betray  no  trace  of  any  outside  in- 
fluence. 

Rembrandt's  earliest  dated  etching  is  also,  seem- 
ingly, his  first  etching — a  Portrait  of  His  Mother^  of 
the  year  1628 — an  unsurpassed  little  masterpiece. 
In  its  own  mode  of  simple,  direct,  open,  linear 
treatment,  there  is  nothing  finer,  even  in  the  work 
of  Rembrandt  himself.  Saskia  with  Pearls  in  Her 
Hair^  of  1634,  as  also  the  Young  Man  in  a  Velvet 
Cap  with  Books  Beside  Him^  which  belongs  to  the 
year  1637,  are  in  Rembrandt's  best  manner,  but 
the  crowning  triumph  of  this  period  is  unquestion- 
ably Rembrandt  Leaning  on  a  Stone  Sill^  bearing  the 
date  1639  ^^'^^  showing  Rembrandt  at  the  happiest 
period  of  his  life — successful,  prosperous,  and  per- 
fect master  of  his  medium. 

The  portrait  of  an  Old  Man  in  a  Divided  Fur 

[1931 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

Cap^  of  the  following  year,  is  likewise  admirable — 
not  a  line  too  much  and  every  line  full  of  signifi- 
cance. Jan  Cornells  Sylvius^  of  1646,  shows  in  a 
marked  degree  Rembrandt's  sympathy  with,  and 
appreciation  of  the  beauty  of  old  age.  The  face  is 
treated  in  a  delicate  and  sensitive  manner,  and, 
with  the  fewest  possible  strokes,  Rembrandt  has 
indicated  the  texture  and  growth  of  the  sparse 
beard  of  his  aged  sitter.  Sulphur-tint  has  been  used 
to  give  additional  modelling  to  the  face,  while  the 
background  and  costume  are  finished  in  a  way 
which  would  have  won  the  admiration  of  Diirer 
himself.  Ephraim  Bonus ^  Jan  Asselyn^  and  Jan  Six 
are  Rembrandt's  three  portrait  etchings  for  the 
year  1647.  Jan  Six  is  Rembrandt's  masterpiece,  so 
far  as  elaborate  finish  is  concerned.  He  has  availed 
himself  of  all  the  resources  of  etching,  dry-point, 
and  of  the  burin — used  freely  as  an  etcher  may  use 
it — to  carry  forward  this  plate.  The  center  of  the 
room  is  bathed  in  subdued  light,  which  melts  into 
rich  and  mysterious  shadows  in  the  corners. 

Rembrandt  Drawing  at  a  Window  is  one  of  the 
most  characterful  of  his  portraits.  It  shows  him  at 
the  age  of  forty-two.  Years  of  sorrow  have  left 
their  mark  upon  his  countenance,  but  what  a 
strong,  resolute  face  it  is !  Clement  de  Jonghe  (which 
should  be  seen  in  the  first  state  before  the  expres- 
sion of  the  face  was  entirely  changed)  is  executed 

[194] 


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REMBRANDT.    JAN  CORNELLS  SYLVIUS 

Size  of  the  original  etching,  \oy?,  x  7K  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


REMBRANDT.     REMBRANDT  LEANING  ON  A  STONE  SILL 

Size  of  the  original  etching,  8>^  x  6K  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


1 


-'- /  »,»^r ';;;!»  -I >  j!;»^Ji  ti'- '^■' ■"   '^'"'^^jA 


REMBRANDT.     CLEMENT  DE  JONGHE  (First  State) 

Size  of  the  original  etching,  8>8  x  6^8  inches 

In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


REMBRANDT.     JAN  LUTMA  (First  State) 

Size  of  the  original  etching,  ~il4,  x  t^yk  inches 

In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


MASTERS  OF  PORTRAITURE 

in  Rembrandt's  open,  linear  manner,  without 
strong  contrasts  of  light  and  dark.  For  beauty  of 
drawing  and  subtlety  of  observation,  it  is  one  of 
his  finest  plates.  Old Haaring^  of  1655,  is  a  magnifi- 
cent dry-point,  in  which  Rembrandt  has  built  up, 
with  many  lines,  a  completely  harmonious  picture; 
but  for  grip  of  character  and  straightforward  pres- 
entation of  the  personality  of  his  sitter,  it  must 
yield  precedence  to  the  unsurpassed  Jan  Lutma^  of 
the  following  year.  This  portrait,  in  the  first  state, 
before  the  introduction  of  the  window  in  the  back- 
ground, is  one  of  Rembrandt's  most  mature  works, 
in  that  the  method  is  perfectly  adapted  to  the  re- 
sult desired. 

In  France  there  is  little  of  significance  in  portrait 
engraving  during  the  sixteenth  century.  Thomas 
DE  Leu  and  Leonard  Gaultier  based  their  style 
upon  the  miniature  portrait  engravers  of  the  North- 
ern School,  such  as  the  Wierix.  Although  their 
graver  work  is  often  quite  beautiful,  it  lacks  origi- 
nality, and  when,  as  frequently  happened,  they 
endeavored  to  interpret  the  wonderful  drawings  of 
the  Clouets  or  Dumonstier,  they  signally  failed  in 
capturing  the  charm  of  their  originals. 

Claude  Mellan,  who  was  born  at  Abbeville  in 
1598,  is,  in  a  sense,  the  fountain-head  of  French 
portrait  engraving.  His  work  is  characteristically 
French,  in  that  it  is  the  result  of  a  system  carefully 

[199I 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

worked  out  to  its  logical  conclusion.  In  his  desire 
to  keep  strictly  within  the  limits  of  what  he  con- 
sidered to  be  the  proper  province  of  engraving,  he 
carried  his  insistence  upon  line  to  a  point  which 
borders  on  mannerism  and  which,  for  over  two 
centuries,  has  militated  against  his  full  recognition. 

Mellan's  earliest  engravings  recall  the  work  of 
Leonard  Gaultier,  but  his  first  teacher  is  not  known. 
Dissatisfied  with  his  instruction  in  Paris,  in  1624 
he  went  to  Rome  where,  while  studying  engraving 
under  Villamena,  he  came  under  the  influence  of 
the  French  painter,  Simon  Vouet,  who  not  only 
provided  his  protege  with  drawings  to  engrave,  but 
persuaded  him  to  base  all  his  training  upon  a 
thorough  ground-work  of  drawing.  It  is  this  severe 
training  as  a  draughtsman  which  lies  at  the  foun- 
dation of  Mellan's  style.  His  original  drawings 
were  executed  in  pencil,  silver-point,  or  chalk,  and 
in  his  engravings  he  preserves  all  the  delicate  and 
elusive  charm  of  his  originals. 

His  manner  of  engraving  is  peculiar  to  himself. 
The  inventor  of  a  mode,  he  so  uses  it  as  to  exhaust 
its  possibilities  and  leaves  nothing  for  his  success- 
ors to  do  along  similar  lines.  Consequently,  al- 
though his  influence  on  French  portrait  engraving 
was  great  and  far-reaching,  he  cannot,  in  any  true 
sense,  be  considered  as  the  founder  of  a  ''school." 
Even    in    his   early   portrait   plates    (incidentally, 

[200] 


Ch  i^cchi  ,  /a.    fn^ntC"  'I  crtn   ca     i    traitt  jupt 
Ma>/c     /'art£ ,  ^    /o  Jfirtp    ammirar    i^uov 
Mtra^   U  tcrlc  ./"(^  ■  _P tu    en  -  //    /up  .   vpItP 

CI-  McJlarfZfrnnc    ^-         ^^/^^    f  6  ^  c 


CLAUDE  MELLAN.     VIRGINIA  DA  VEZZO 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  4H  x  3  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


"NICOLy«J/S    CLAVDIVS     FABRICIVS 
DE    PEIRESC      SENATOR  AQVENSIS 


CLAUDE  MELLAN.     FABRT  DE  PEIRESC 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  ^H  x  5H  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


MASTERS  OF  PORTRAITURE 

among  the  most  charming  and  perfect),  such  as 
Virginia  de  Vezzo^  the  wife  of  Simon  Vouet,  en- 
graved in  Rome  in  1626,  we  find  his  style  fully 
developed.  Save  for  four  little  spots  of  deepest 
shadow,  the  entire  portrait  is  executed  in  single, 
uncrossed  lines,  indicating,  by  their  direction,  the 
contour  of  the  face,  which  is  delicately  modelled, 
while  the  flow  of  the  hair  is  realistically  and  beauti- 
fully expressed.  From  this  simple,  linear  method, 
adopted  thus  early,  Mellan,  with  few  unimportant 
exceptions,  never  departed;  and  although  he  lived 
and  worked  until  1688,  surviving  Morin  by  twenty- 
two  years  and  Robert  Nanteuil  by  ten,  he  held 
to  his  own  self-appointed  course,  his  work  show- 
ing no  trace  whatever  of  the  influence  of  his  two 
most  distinguished  contemporaries. 

Among  his  many  portraits  choice  is  difficult,  but, 
by  general  consent,  his  style  is  seen  at  its  very  best 
in  Fabri  de  Peiresc^  which  excels  in  point  of  drawing, 
grip  of  character,  and  straightforwardness  of  pres- 
entation. It  is  dated  1637  and  was  engraved  on  his 
way  from  Rome  to  Paris,  in  which  city  he  settled, 
enjoying  for  many  years  a  reputation  and  success 
second  to  none.  Of  his  other  portraits  mention 
must  be  made  of  Henriette-Marie  de  Buade  Fronte- 
nac^  of  a  delightful  silvery  quality,  and  of  her 
husband,  Henri-Louis  Hubert  de  Montmor^  the  rich- 
est toned  of  all  his  works.    Nicolas  Fonquet  likewise 

["-03] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

is  of  peculiar  interest,  inasmuch  as  in  this  plate 
Mellan  has  departed  for  once  from  his  invariable 
method  of  pure  line  work  and  has  modelled  the 
face  with  an  elaborate  system  of  dots,  in  the 
manner  of  Morin. 

Jean  Morin  was  Mellan's  junior  by  two  years. 
His  style  is  in  the  greatest  contrast  to  that  of  the 
older  master,  not  only  technically,  but  in  that  he 
was  always  a  reproductive  engraver,  never  designing 
his  own  portraits,  the  majority  of  his  plates  being 
after  the  paintings  of  Philippe  de  Champaigne.  His 
plates  are  executed  almost  entirely  in  pure  etching, 
with  just  sufficient  burin  work  to  give  crispness  and 
decision.  The  heads  are  elaborately  modelled,  with 
many  minute  dots,  recalling  somewhat  Van  Dyck's 
manner  in  such  a  portrait  as  Snyders. 

Antoine  Vitre^  the  famous  printer,  shows  Morin's 
method  at  its  richest;  its  brilliancy  and  color  place 
it  in  the  forefront  of  French  portraits,  though  for 
charm  it  may  not  rank  with  Anne  of  Austria  or 
Cardinal  Richelieu^  both  after  paintings  by  Philippe 
de  Champaigne. 

Cardinal  Guido  Bentivoglio^  after  Van  Dyck,  well 
deserves  the  reputation  which  it  has  so  long  en- 
joyed. It  is,  furthermore,  significant  as  an  example 
of  Morin's  power  of  concentrating  all  the  attention 
upon  the  countenance  of  his  sitter.  He  was  pri- 
marily a  portrait  engraver  and  never  allowed  him- 

[204] 


JEAN  MORIN.     CARDINAL  GUIDO  BENTIVOGLIO 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  iiK  x  9K  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


ROBERT  NANTEUIL.     POMPONE  DE  BELLIEVRE 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  iij4,  x  9^^  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts.  Boston 


MASTERS  OF  PORTRAITURE 

self  to  be  seduced,  as  were  such  eighteenth  century 
masters  as  the  Drevets,  into  lavishing  his  skill  upon 
the  purely  ornamental  accessories,  to  the  detriment 
of  the  portrait  itself.  Fine  though  Van  Dyck's  full- 
length  painting  is,  Morin  is  more  than  justified  in 
taking  from  it  the  head  and  bust  only,  since  thereby 
he  gives  to  his  plate  a  vivid  and  compelling  quality 
which  otherwise  would  be  lacking. 

Robert  Nanteuil  is  not  only  the  greatest  of 
French  portrait  engravers;  he  is  one  of  the  greatest 
portraitists  in  the  history  of  French  art.  In  his  work 
the  clarity  and  logic  of  the  French  temperament  is 
enriched  by  a  study  of  the  engravers  of  the  Flemish 
and  Dutch  schools,  though  in  Nanteuil's  plates 
color  is  never  sought  at  the  expense  of  balance.  His 
technique  is  a  fusion  of  the  best  elements  of  Mellan 
and  of  Morin.  From  Mellan  he  derived  his  care- 
fully balanced  system  of  open  line  work,  while 
Morin  doubtless  suggested  to  him  the  use  of  graver 
flicks  in  modelling  the  face. 

The  date  of  Nanteuil's  birth  is  variously  given 
as  1623,  1625,  and  1630,  the  last-named  date,  which 
is  accepted  by  Robert-Dumesnil,  corresponding 
best  with  what  we  know  regarding  the  development 
of  his  work. 

His  first  portrait  plates  were  done  in  1648,  the 
year  in  which  he  came  to  Paris,  and  from  that  time 
onwards  he  devoted  himself  almost  exclusively  to 

[207] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

portraiture,  until  his  death  in  1678.  His  engravings 
form  a  gallery  illustrating  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV, 
from  the  King  himself,  whom  he  engraved  no  fewer 
than  eleven  times,  to  the  Norman  peasant  and 
poet,  Loret  (incidentally,  one  of  Nanteuil's  finest 
portrait  plates),  whose  "Gazette"  satirized  each 
day  "the  intriguing  nobles  who  were  not  afraid  of 
bullets,  but  who  were  in  deadly  fear  of  winter  mud." 

An  interesting  story  is  told  of  Nanteuil's  debut 
in  Paris.  It  is  said  that  he  received  his  first  order 
by  following  some  divinity  students  to  a  wine-shop, 
where  they  were  wont  to  take  their  meals.  There, 
having  chosen  one  of  the  portrait  drawings  he  had 
brought  from  Rheims,  he  pretended  to  look  for  a 
sitter  whose  name  and  address  he  had  forgotten.  It 
is  superfluous  to  add  that  the  picture  was  not 
recognized,  but  it  was  passed  from  hand  to  hand, 
the  price  was  asked,  the  artist  was  modest  in  his 
demands,  and  before  the  end  of  the  repast  his 
career  had  begun. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  portraits,  in  his  early 
manner,  is  that  of  Ccwdinal  de  Retz^  engraved  in 
16^0.  Morin  has  likewise  left  us  a  portrait  of  this 
personage,  and  it  is  instructive  to  compare  the  two 
engravings.  In  Nanteuil's  the  background  is  still 
somewhat  stiff,  but  the  costume  is  treated  simply 
and  directly,  while  the  face  shows  a  judicious 
blending  of  line  and  dot  work. 

[208] 


MASTERS  OF  PORTRAITURE 

Nothing  could  be  finer  and  more  reticent  than 
Marie  de  Bragelogne  of  1656.  The  pale,  elderly,  and 
somewhat  sad  face  of  this  old  love  of  Cardinal 
Richelieu  is  treated  with  the  greatest  sympathy. 
For  the  most  part,  it  is  modelled  with  delicate 
flick  work,  and  where  lines  are  employed,  they  are 
so  used  as  to  blend  perfectly  into  a  harmonious 
whole.  In  contrast  to  the  face,  the  collar  is  ren- 
dered in  long,  flowing  lines,  without  cross-hatching, 
entirely  in  the  manner  of  Claude  Mellan.  It  is 
from  Nanteuil's  own  drawing  trom  life  and  is 
perhaps  the  most  beautiful  of  the  eight  engraved 
portraits  of  women  we  have  from  his  hand. 

Pompone  de  Bellievre^  of  i6i;7,  after  Le  Brun's 
painting,  has  enjoyed  among  collectors  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  the  most  beautiful  of  all  engraved 
portraits.  Fine  it  undoubtedly  is;  but  it  lacks  that 
grip  of  character  which  is  so  conspicuously  present 
in  Nanteuil's  engravings  from  life,  and  for  compel- 
ling portrait  quality  it  falls  short  o{  Pierre  Seguier^ 
engraved  in  the  same  year,  likewise  after  Le  Brun's 
painting.  Jean  Loret  certainly  does  not  owe  its  fame 
to  the  beauty  of  the  personage  portrayed.  It  is  one 
of  Nanteuil's  most  convincing  and  vital  plates. 
The  modelling  of  the  face  and  the  means  employed 
are  absolutely  adequate.  This  engraving  alone 
would  explain  why,  in  his  day,  Nanteuil's  greatest 
fame  rested  upon  the  surprisingly  lifelike  quality 

[209] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

of  his  work,  whether  it  be  pastel,  drawing,  or  en- 
graving. 

To  the  year  1658  also  belongs  Basile  Fouquet^ 
brother  of  Nicolas  Fouquet,  the  famous  Superin- 
tendent of  Finance.  Not  less  beautiful  than  Pom- 
pone  de  Bellievre^  there  is  a  vitality  about  the 
Basile  Fouquet  lacking  in  the  better-known  plate. 

Three  years  later,  in  1661,  Nanteuil  engraved  the 
portrait  of  Nicolas  Fouquet — one  of  his  master- 
pieces of  characterization.  Nothing  could  be  finer 
than  the  way  in  which  he  has  portrayed  the  great 
finance  minister,  whose  ambition  it  was  to  succeed 
Mazarin  as  virtual  ruler  of  the  kingdom.  It  is  a 
historical  document  of  prime  importance,  of  the 
greatest  beauty,  and  preserves  for  all  time  the 
features  of  the  then  most  powerful  man  in  France, 
gazing  out  upon  the  world  with  a  half  quizzical 
expression,  totally  unaware  of  the  sensational  re- 
versal of  Fortune  already  drawing  near. 

A  plate  not  less  admirable  in  its  way — a  little 
masterpiece — is  Francois  de  la  Mothe  le  Vayer^  who 
was  regarded  as  the  Plutarch  of  his  time  for  his 
boundless  erudition  and  his  mode  of  reasoning. 
Nanteuil's  engraving  shows  him  at  the  age  of 
seventy-five,  in  full  possession  of  all  his  intellectual 
powers  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  that  good  health 
which  lasted  until  his  death,  eleven  years  later,  at 
the  ripe  age  of  eighty-six. 

[210] 


ROBERT  NANTEUIL.     BASILE  FOUQUET 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  12^  x  gj/i  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


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tn  jinrLce-,  aicfiiOU.  maliil  ejJt  (jiuupxje,  re,ncnn , 
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J^njjcront  j'il  nit  ait  -vn  pejt  d'&fmt,cni  non 


ROBERT  NANTEUIL.  JEAN  LORET 

Size  of  the  original  engraving,  io>^  x  73-8  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


MASTERS  OF  PORTRAITURE 

The  masterly  portrait  of  Turenne^  engraved  in 
1663,  after  a  painting  by  Philippe  de  Champalgne, 
Is  one  of  the  engraver's  most  vigorous  plates,  of  a 
size  somewhat  larger  than  had  hitherto  been  his 
wont.  From  this  period  date  the  life-size  portraits, 
thlrty-slx  of  which  were  completed  before  he  died 
in  1678,  the  last  four  years  of  his  life  being  devoted 
entirely  to  these  large  plates — seven  of  them  of  the 
King  himself.  They  were  obviously  Intended  to  be 
framed  and  hung  above  the  high  wainscots  used 
in  those  times,  and  although  they  do  not  show 
Nanteull  at  his  best,  and — in  the  majority  of  cases 
— are,  in  part,  the  work  of  assistants,  they  are  a 
remarkable  performance. 

Nanteull  established  the  tradition  of  portrait 
engraving  in  France  once  and  for  all,  and  although 
his  successors,  profiting  by  his  example,  have  left 
us  many  superbly  engraved  plates,  none  of  them 
were  able  to  combine  the  qualities  of  great  engraver 
with  great  portraitist,  which  make  Nanteull  su- 
preme in  the  history  of  portrait  engraving. 

The  nineteenth  century  has  produced  three  mas- 
ter portrait  etchers.  Of  what  previous  century  can 
we  say  as  much?  Other  portraits  may  possess  more 
charm,  but  none  have  a  greater  measure  of  dignity 
than  those  by  Alphonse  Legros.  He  has  been 
called  a  "belated  old  master,"  and  in  his  portrait 
plates  are  combined  the  qualities  which  prove  him 

[213] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

to  be  a  master  indeed — not  old,  in  the  sense  of  out  ot 
touch  with  his  time,  but  displaying  the  same  quali- 
ties which  make  the  portraits  of  Rembrandt  orVan 
Dyck  so  compelling  and  of  such  continuing  interest. 

Cardinal  Manning — the  triumph  of  spirit  over 
flesh — simple,  austere;  G.  F.  Watts ^  in  which  the 
gravity  and  beauty  of  old  age  is  portrayed  as  no  one 
since  Rembrandt  has  portrayed  it,  are  plates  which 
will  assure  his  artistic  immortality. 

Mr.  Whistler,  when  asked  which  of  his  etch- 
ings he  considered  the  best,  is  reported  to  have  an- 
swered, "All."  Fortunately  for  us,  in  the  case  of 
his  portraits  he  has  indicated  his  preference.  ''One 
oj  my  very  besf  is  written  beneath  a  y^rooi  o{  Annie 
Haden^  now  in  the  Lenox  Library;  and  Whistler, 
in  the  course  of  conversation  with  Mr.  E.  G.  Ken- 
nedy, told  him  that  if  he  had  to  make  a  decision  as 
to  which  plate  was  his  best,  he  would  rest  his  repu- 
tation upon  Annie  Haden.  It  is  the  culmination 
of  that  wonderful  series  to  which  belong  such 
masterpieces  as  Becquet^  Drouet,  Finette,  Arthur 
Haden^  Mr.  Mann  and  Riault,  the  Engraver.  Whistler 
himself  never  surpassed  this  portrait,  which  for 
perfect  balance,  certainty  of  hand,  and  sheer  charm, 
is  not  only  one  of  the  most  delightful  portrait  plates 
in  the  history  of  the  art,  but  one  of  the  few  success- 
ful representations  of  the  elusive  charm  of  young 
girlhood. 

[214] 


J.  A.  McN.  WHISTLER.     ANNIE  HADEN 

Size  of  the  original  dry-point,  13M  x  8H  inches 
In  the  Collection  of  Howard  Mansfield,  Esq 


J.  A.  McN.  WHISTLER.     RIAULT,  THE  ENGRAVER 
Size  of  the  original  dry-point,  8^x5^  inches 
In  the  Collection  of  Howard  Mansfield,  Esq. 


MASTERS  OF  PORTRAITURE 

Hardly  less  beautiful  are  the  portraits  o{ Florence 
Leyland^  standing,  holding  her  hoop  in  her  right 
hand,  every  line  of  the  slender  figure  rhythmic  and 
beautiful;  or  of  Fanny  Ley  land  ^  seated,  the  soft 
flounces  of  her  white  muslin  dress  indicated  with 
the  fewest  and  most  delicate  lines;  or  Weary ^  lyii^'g 
back  in  her  chair,  with  hair  outspread.  Weary  sug- 
gests the  Jenny  of  Rossetti's  poem,  but  it  is  a 
portrait  of  "Jo" — Joanna  Heffernan  —  whom 
Whistler  painted  as  The  White  Girl  and  La  Belle 
Irlandaise^  and  of  whom,  in  1861,  two  years  pre- 
viously, he  had  made  a  superb  dry-point. 

Of  Whistler's  portraits  of  men,  Riault  is  as- 
suredly one  of  the  finest,  both  in  execution  and  in 
portrayal  of  character.  The  concentration  of  the 
wood-engraver  on  his  task  is  expressed  with  con- 
vincing power,  and  those  who  mistakenly  attribute 
to  Whistler  grace  at  the  expense  of  strength  could 
hardly  do  better  than  study  this  dry-point. 

Could  there  be  a  greater  contrast  than  the  work 
of  Whistler  and  Zorn?  Could  anything  better 
illustrate  the  infinite  possibilities  of  the  art,  the 
pliability  of  the  medium  to  serve  the  needs  of 
etchers  as  dissimilar  in  method  as  in  point  of 
attack?  With  the  fewest  possible  lines  {slashed^ 
one  might  almost  say,  into  the  copper)  Zorn 
evolves  a  portrait  of  compelling  power,vibrant  with 
life.    Mere  speed  counts  for  little,  and  it  is  of  small 

(217] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

significance  that  a  masterpiece  such  as  Ernest Renan 
is  the  result  of  a  single  sitting  of  one  hour  only.  It 
was  done  in  Renan's  studio  in  Paris,  in  April,  1892. 
''His  friends,"  the  artist  relates,  "came  and  asked 
me  to  make  an  etching  of  him.  He  arranged  for  a 
sitting.  He  was  very  ill,  but  I  sat  studying  him  for 
a  little  while,  then  took  the  plate  and  drew  him.  I 
asked  him  if  it  was  a  characteristic  pose  and  he 
replied,  'No,  I  very  seldom  sit  like  this.'  But  his 
wife  came  in  and  said,  'You  have  caught  him  to 
perfection,  it  is  himself.  When  he  is  not  watched 
he  is  always  like  that.'  She  was  really  touched  by 
it."  What  is  significant  in  the  portrait  of  Renan^ 
astounding,  one  might  say,  is  that  with  lines  so 
few  Zorn  has  given  us  not  only  the  outer  man, 
but  a  character  study  of  profound  insight.  Renan, 
sunk  in  his  chair,  the  bulky  body  topped  by  the 
massive  head,  the  hair  suggested  with  a  mere 
handful  of  lines,  was  like  a  bomb-shell  to  such 
print-collectors  as  previously  were  unacquainted 
with  Zorn's  work.  It  was,  however,  only  one  of  a 
group  of  masterpieces  with  which  the  artist  made 
his  debut  in  America,  in  1892:  Zorn  and  His  Wije^ 
Faure,  The  Waltz^  The  Omnibus^  Olga  Bratt^  with 
its  elusive  charm,  and  the  piquant  Girl  with  the 
Cigarette^  and  Madame  Simon^  which  still  remains 
one  of  his  most  powerful  portraits. 

The  Toast  is  etched  from  Zorn's  picture  painted 

[118] 


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ANDERS  ZORN.     THE  TOAST 

Size  of  the  original  etching,  12H  x  loK  inches 

In  the  Collection  of  Albert  W.  SchoUe,  Esq. 


ANDERS  ZORN.     MADAME  SIMON 

Size  of  the  original  etching,  gH  x  6X  inche; 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts.  Boston 


ANDERS  ZORN.     MISS  EMMA  RASSMUSSEN 

Size  of  the  original  etching,  7H  x  5^^  inches 
In  the  Collection  of  the  Author 


MASTERS  OF  PORTRAITURE 

by  him  to  celebrate  the  thirtieth  anniversary  of  the 
Society  of  the  Idun,  a  scientific  and  artistic  society 
in  Stockholm.  Wieselgren,  the  President  of  the 
Society,  a  Viking-like  figure,  is  about  to  propose  a 
toast;  beyond  him,  characterized  with  the  fewest 
lines,  are  seen  Nordenskjold,  the  Arctic  explorer; 
Hildebrand,  the  archaeologist;  Axel  Key,  professor 
of  medicine;  and  Woern,  the  Minister  of  Finance. 
The  plate  has  all  the  freshness,  all  the  spontaneity, 
of  an  etching  done  directly  from  life  and  at  a  white 
heat. 

Among  his  many  portraits  of  women,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  make  a  selection.  Miss  Anna  Burnett^ 
seated  at  the  Piano^  is  charming.  Annie ^  Mrs.  Gran- 
bergy  and  Kesti — each,  in  its  own  way,  fascinates 
us;  but  if  one  were  to  express  a  personal  preference, 
it  would  be  for  Miss  Emma  Rassmussen.  The  blond 
beauty  of  her  hair,  the  fair,  tender  flesh,  sparkling 
eyes,  and  lips  slightly  open,  showing  the  firm,  small, 
even  teeth,  are  in  perfect  harmony.  The  line  is 
more  delicate  than  is  the  artist's  wont,  and  both 
as  a  portrait  and  as  an  etching  it  is  a  lasting  delight. 


23] 


SOME  MASTERS  OF  PORTRAITURE 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Prints  and  Their  Makers.  Edited  by  FitzRoy  Carrington.  200  illustrations. 
New  York:  Century  Co.    1912. 

Etching  and  Etchers.  By  Philip  Gilbert  Hamerton.  35  original  etchings. 
London:  Macmillan  &  Co.    1868. 

.  Same.  6th  edition.    Boston:  Roberts  Brothers.    1892. 

The  Golden  Age  of  Engraving.  By  Frederick  Keppel.  262  illustrations. 
New  York:  The  Baker  and  Taylor  Company.    1910. 

The  Best  Portraits  in  Engraving.  By  Charles  Sumner.  New  York: 
Frederick  Keppel.    1875. 

DiJRER,  Albrecht  (see  Bibliography  under  "The  Master  of 
the  Amsterdam  Cabinet  and  Albrecht  DiJrer,"  page  137). 

Van  Dyck,  Anthony  (1599-1641) 

Eaux-fortes  de  Antoine  van  Dyck;  reproduites  et  publiees  par  Amand- 

DuRAND.     Edited  by  Georges  Duplessis.     11  reproductions.     Paris:  Amand- 

Durand.    1874. 

Van  Dyck;  His  Original  Etchings  and  His  Iconography.    By  Arthur 

Mayger  Hind.    38   illustrations.  The  Print-Collector's  Quarterly,  2  parts. 

Parti.  Vol.  5,  No.  I,  pp.  3-37.    Part  II.   Vol.  5,  No.  2,  pp.  220-253.    Boston. 

1915. 

.    Reprinted  in  revised  form.    2^  illustrations.    Boston:  Houghton 

Mifflin  Company.    191 5. 

Van  Dyck  and  Portrait  Engraving  and  Etching  in  the  Seventeenth 
Century.  Edited  by  Arthur  Mayger  Hind.  65  reproductions.  London  and 
New  York:  Frederick  A.  Stokes  Company,  n.  d.  (Great  Engravers.) 
Van  Dyck.  By  H.  Knackfuss.  Translated  by  Campbell  Dodgson.  55  illus- 
trations. Bielefeld  and  Leipzig:  Velhagen  &  Klasing.  1899.  (Monographs 
on  Artists.) 

Etchings  of  Van  Dyck.  Edited  by  Frank  Newbolt.  34  reproductions. 
London:    George  Newnes.  n.  d. 

Etchings  by  Van  Dyck  By  Walter  H.  Sparrow.  With  an  introduction  by  H. 
Singer.  23  reproductions  of  the  first  states.  London:  Hodder  &  Stoughton. 
1905. 

LTCONOGRAPHIE    d'AnTOINE    VAN    DyCK,    d'aPRES     LES     RECHERCHES    DE    H. 

Weber.  By  Friedrich  Wibiral.  i  reproduction  and  6  plates  of  watermarks. 
Leipzig:  A.  Danz.    1877. 

Rembrandt  Harmensz  van  Rijn  (1606-1669) 
The  Etched  Work  of  Rembrandt;  a  Monogkaph  (Written  as  Intro- 
duction TO  THE  Burlington  Club  Exhibition,  1877)  with  an  Appendix 


224] 


MASTERS  OF  PORTRAITURE 


Respecting  Appropriation  of  the  Foregoing  in  Middleton's  Descrip- 
tive Catalogue.    By  Francis  Seymour  Haden.    London:  Macmillan  &  Co. 

1879- 

The  Etchings  of  Rembrandt.  By  Philip  Gilbert  Hamerton.  4  reproductions 
and  36  text  illustrations.  London:  Seeley  &  Co.  1902.  (Portfolio  Mono- 
graphs.) 

Rembrandt's  Etchings;  an  Essay  and  a  Catalogue,  with  Some  Notes 
ON  the  Drawings.  By  Arthur  May ger  Hind.  London:  Methuen  &  Co.  1912. 
Volume  I,  Text  (with  34  plates  illustrating  the  drawings).  Volume  2, 
Illustrations  (330  reproductions). 

Etchings  of  Rembrandt.  Edited  by  Arthur  Mayger  Hind.  62  reproductions. 
London  and  New  York:  Frederick  A.  Stokes  Company.  1907.  (Great  En- 
gravers.) 

Rembrandt.  By  H.  Knackfuss.  Translated  by  Campbell  Dodgson.  159 
illustrations.  Bielefeld  and  Leipzig:  Velhagen  &  Klasing.  1899.  (Mono- 
graphs on  Artists.) 

Rembrandt's  Amsterdam.    By  Frits  Lugt.    I'j  illustrations  and  map.    The 
Print-Collector's  Quarterly,  Vol.  5,  No.  2,  pp.  111-169.    Boston.    1915. 
Rembrandt;  His  Life,  His  Work,  and  His  Time.   By  Emile  Michel.    Trans- 
lated by  Florence  Simmonds.    Edited  by  Frederick  Wedmore.    1  volumes.    317 
illustrations.    London:  William  Heinemann.    1895. 

L'oEUVRE  grave  de  Rembrandt;  Reproductions  des  planches  dans 
tout  leurs  etats  successifs,  avec  UN  catalogue  raisonne.  By  Dmitri 
Rovinski.  1000  reproductions.  St.  Petersburg:  L' Academic  Imperiale  des 
Sciences.  1890.  Volume  i.  Text.  Volumes  2-4,  Reproductions. 
.  Supplement.  Collected  by  D.  Rovinski.  Arranged  and  de- 
scribed by  N.  Tchetchouline.  94  reproductions.  St.  Petersburg:  S.  N.  Kotoff, 
and  Leipzig:  Karl  W.  Hiersemann.    191 4. 

Kritisches  Verzeichnis  der  Radierungen  Rembrandts,  zugleich  eine 
Anleitung  zu  deren  Studium.  By  JVoldemar  von  Seidlitz.  Leipzig:  E.  A. 
Seemann.    1895. 

Rembrandt;  des  Meisters  Radierungen  in  402  Abbildungen.  Edited  by 
Hans  Wolfgang  Singer.  Stuttgart  and  Leipzig:  Deutsche  Verlags-Anstalt. 
1906.    (Klassiker  der  Kunst.  Vol.  8.) 

Portrait  Engraving  in  France 

De  la  gravure  du   portrait  en  France.    By  Georges  Duplessis.    Paris: 

Rapilly.    1875. 

Le    peintre-graveur    fran^ais;    un    catalogue    raisonne    d'estampes 

gravees  par  les  peintres  et  les  dessinateurs  de  l'ecole  fran^aise, 

OUVRAGE  FAISANT  SUITE  AU  PeINTRE-GRAVEUR  DE  M.   BaRTSCH.     By  A.  P.  F. 

Robert-Dumesnil.  11  volumes.  (Vol.11.  Supplement  by  Georges  Duplessis.) 
Paris:  Mme.  Huzard.    1835-71. 

Le  Peintre-graveur  fran^ais  continue  .  .  .  ouvrage  faisant 
SUITE  AU  Peintre-Graveur  Franqais  de  Robert-Dumesnil.  By  Prosper 
de  Baudicour.    Paris:   Mme.  Bouchard-Huzard.   1 859-1 861.  2  volumes. 


^] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

French  Portrait  Engraving  of  the  Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth 
Centuries.  By  T.  H.  Thomas.  39  illustrations.  London:  George  Bell  & 
Sons.    1910. 

Mellan,  Claude  (1598-1688) 

Claude  Mellan.  By  Louis  R.  Metcalfe.  13  illustrations.  The  Print- 
Collector's  Quarterly,  Vol.  5,  No.  3,  pp.  258-292.    Boston.  191 5. 

Catalogue  raisonne  de  l'oeuvre  de  Claude  Mellan  d'Abbeville.  By 
Anatole  de  Montaiglon.  Biography  by  P.  J.  Mariette.  Abbeville:  P.  Briez. 
1856. 

MoRiN,  Jean  (before  i59o(?)-i65o) 

Jean  Morin.  By  Louis  R.  Metcalfe.  11  illustrations.  The  Print-Collector's 
Quarterly,  Vol.  2,  No.  i,  pp.  1-30.    Boston.    191 2. 

Nanteuil,  Robert  (1623(25. ?)-i678) 

Robert  Nanteuil.     By  Louis  R.  Metcalfe.     12  illustrations.    The  Print- 
Collector's  Quarterly,  Vol.  i,  No.  5,  pp.  525-561.    Boston.    1911. 
Nanteuil;  sa  vie   et  son  oeuvre.     By  Abbe  Porree.     Rouen:   Cagniard. 
1890. 

The  Drawings  and  Pastels  of  Nanteuil.  By  T.  H.  Thomas.  15  illus- 
trations. The  Print-Collector's  Quarterly,  Vol.  4,  No.  4,  pp.  327-361. 
Boston.    1914. 

Legros,  Alphonse  (1837-1911) 

Alphonse  Legros.    By  Elisabeth  Luther  Cary.    10  illustrations.    The  Print- 
Collector's  Quarterly,  Vol.  2,  No.  4,  pp.  439-457.    Boston.    191 2. 
Catalogue  raisonne  de  l'ceuvre  grave  et  lithographie  de  M.  Alphonse 
Legros,  1855-77.    By  Paul  Auguste  Poulet-Malassis  and  A.  W.  Thibaudeau. 
3  plates.    Paris:  J.  Baur.    1877. 

Whistler,  James  Abbott  McNeill  (i 834-1903)  (see 
Bibliography  under  "Landscape  Etching,"  p.  277). 

ZoRN,  Anders  (i860-         ) 

Das  radierte  Werk  des  Anders  Zorn.    By  Fortunat  von  Schubert-Soldern. 

Illustrated.    Dresden:  Ernst  Arnold.    1905. 

Anders  Zorn.    By  Loys  Delteil.    328  reproductions.    Paris:  L'auteur.    1909. 

(Le  Peintre-graveur  illustre,  XIX^  et  XX^  siecles.    Vol.  4.) 

Anders   Zorn.     By   Mrs.  Schuyler   Van   Rensselaer.     5    illustrations.    The 

Century,  VoL  24,  p.  582  (New  Series).    New  York.    1893. 

Anders  Zorn:  Painter-Etcher.    By  J.  Nilsen  Laurvik.    18  illustrations. 

The  Print-Collector's  Quarterly,  Vol.  i,  No.  5,  pp.  611-637.    Boston.    1911. 

[226] 


LANDSCAPE  ETCHING 

IN  LANDSCAPE,  as  in  portraiture,  we  are  greeted 
on  the  threshold  by  Albrecht  Durer.  From 
his  many  drawings,  water-colors,  and  the  beauti- 
fully engraved  backgrounds  in  a  number  of  his 
plates,  we  know  him  to  have  been  a  profound 
student  of  natural  forms  and  of  atmospheric  effects, 
sensitive  to  the  character  of  the  country  he  por- 
trays; and  it  is  a  matter  of  regret  that  The  Cannon 
is  the  only  plate  in  which  the  landscape  element 
outweighs  in  interest  the  figures.  The  Cannon, 
which  is  dated  151 8,  is  etched  upon  an  iron  plate, 
not  necessarily  because  Diirer  was  unacquainted 
with  a  suitable  mordant  for  copper,  but  rather, 
one  is  inclined  to  believe,  because,  etching  having 
been  used  in  the  decoration  of  arms  and  armor, 
iron  would  naturally  suggest  itself  as  the  most 
appropriate  metal  for  the  purpose.  Although  the 
cannon  ("The  Nuremberg  Field  Serpent"),  to  the 
left,  and  the  five  Turks,  to  the  right,  are  the 
main  motives  of  the  composition,  they  are  drawn 
and  bitten  with  lines  of  exactly  the  same  weight 
and  character  as  the  landscape  itself,  and  we 
can,  if  we  will,  consider  them  as  accessory  fig- 
ures, concentrating  our  attention  upon  the  alto- 

[227] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

gether  delightful  village,  its  church  spire  pointing 
heavenwards,  while  in  the  distance  wooded  hills 
rise  towards  the  sombre  sky,  and  to  the  left  a  sea- 
port is  indicated.  Diirer  either  ignored  or  was  un- 
aware of  the  effects  to  be  obtained  by  repeated 
rebitings,  and  consequently  the  plate  is  of  a  uni- 
form tone.  Within  his  self-imposed  limits  he  has 
thoroughly  understood  the  possibilities  of  the  me- 
dium and  has  availed  himself  of  them,  adopting  an 
open,  linear  technique,  in  marked  contrast  to  his 
highly  elaborate  engravings  on  copper  of  this  period. 

Albrecht  Altdorfer,  who  was  born  in  Regens- 
burg  about  1480  and  died  in  February,  1538,  is 
notable  as  one  of  the  earliest  interpreters  of  land- 
scape for  its  own  sake.  He  has  left  us  ten  land- 
scape etchings.  None  of  them  is  dated,  but  they 
clearly  belong  to  his  last  period.  In  them  he  has 
merely  transferred  to  metal  his  mode  of  pen  draw- 
ing, an  excellent  style  in  a  way,  since  it  is  linear 
and  suggestive,  but  lacking  distinction  and  that 
passionate,  dramatic  quality  which  is  so  impressive 
in  the  painting,  Sl  George^  in  the  Munich  Gallery, 
the  engraving  of  the  Crucifixion^  or  the  Agony  in 
the  Garden,  a  drawing  in  the  Berlin  Print  Room. 

The  etchings  of  Augustin  Hirschvogel  are 
even  simpler  in  treatment  than  those  by  Altdorfer. 
They  bear  dates  from  1545  to  1549.  The  more  one 
studies  his  landscape  plates,  breathing  the  spirit  of 

[228] 


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LANDSCAPE  ETCHING 

the  true  nature  lover,  the  more  fascinating  do  they 
become.  He  has  eliminated  all  non-essentials,  con- 
centrating his  attention  upon  what  were  to  him  the 
most  significant  features,  and  in  this  respect  he  may 
have  influenced  the  work  of  more  than  one  nine- 
teenth century  master. 

Hans  Sebald  Lautensack,  who  was  some 
twenty  years  Hirschvogel's  junior,  was  born  in 
Nuremberg  about  1524.  The  greater  number  of 
his  landscape  plates  fall  within  the  years  1551  and 
1555.  He  is  neither  so  simple  nor  so  direct  as 
Hirschvogel,  and  his  plates  suffer  from  over- 
elaboration.  In  an  attempt  to  give  a  complete 
representation  of  the  scene  the  value  of  the  line  is 
lost,  and,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  the  composition 
is  lacking  in  repose. 

For  almost  a  century  we  have  no  landscape  etch- 
ings of  prime  importance.  Then,  in  1640,  Rem- 
brandt appears  on  the  scene  with  his  View  oj  Am- 
sterdam^ the  first  of  a  series  of  twenty-seven  master- 
pieces which,  beginning  with  this  plate,  comes  to 
an  end  with  A  Clump  of  Trees  with  a  Vista  (1652). 
The  View  of  Amsterdam  is,  among  Rembrandt's 
landscapes,  comparable  to  the  portrait  of  himself 
leaning  on  a  stone  sill,  inasmuch  as  it  is,  in  its  own 
simple  linear  mode,  a  model  of  what  etching  can 
be  at  its  best. 

As  in  the  case  of  all  these  etchings,  with  the  ex- 

[^31] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

ception  of  the  Three  Trees  and  the  Landscape  with 
a  Ruined  Tower  and  Clear  Foreground^  the  sky  is 
left  perfectly  blank,  and  our  imagination  must 
supply  the  quiet  sunshine  of  a  cloudless  day  or  that 
delicate  grayness  which  makes  Holland  a  perpetual 
delight  to  the  painter. 

The  Windmill  (1641)  is  Rembrandt's  first  dated 
etching.  It  is  truly  a  portrait  of  a  place,  not  only 
in  its  outer  aspect,  but  in  that  inner  spirit  which, 
if  it  be  present,  moves  us  so  profoundly,  as  in  the 
case  of  Meryon's  etchings  of  Paris  and  Piranesi's 
plates  of  ancient  Roman  edifices;  or,  if  it  be  absent, 
leaves  us  disappointed  and  cold.  In  the  Windmill^ 
"we  feel  the  stains  of  weather,  the  touch  of  time, 
on  the  structure;  we  feel  the  air  about  it  and  the 
quiet  light  that  rests  on  the  far  horizon  as  the  eye 
travels  over  dike  and  meadow;  we  are  admitted  to 
the  subtlety  and  sensitiveness  of  a  sight  trans- 
cending our  own;  and  even  by  some  intangible 
means  beyond  analysis  we  partake  of  something 
of  Rembrandt's  actual  mind  and  feeling,  his  sense 
of  what  the  old  mill  meant,  not  merely  as  a  pic- 
turesque object  to  be  drawn,  but  as  a  human  ele- 
ment in  the  landscape,  implying  the  daily  work  of 
human  hands  and  the  association  of  man  and 
earth."* 


*  Rembrandt's   Landscape  Etchings.     By  Laurence  Binyon.      The  Print- 
Collector's  Quarterly.    Vol.  2,  No.  4,  p.  4I4 


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To  the  same  year  belong  the  Landscape  with  a  Cot- 
tage and  Hay  barn  and  Landscape  with  a  Cottage  and 
a  Large  Tree^  two  dehghtfully  spacious  plates.  There 
is  one  etching  in  1642,  the  Cottage  with  a  White 
Palings  in  which  dry-point  is  judiciously  used  to 
give  richness  to  the  shadows. 

To  the  following  year,  1643,  belongs  the  Three 
Trees^  the  most  famous  of  Rembrandt's  landscape 
etchings.  Note  how  Rembrandt  has  suggested  the 
passing  of  a  summer  thunder-storm,  the  rain- 
charged  clouds  rolling  away  to  the  left,  while  from 
the  right  the  returning  sunshine  bathes  the  com- 
position in  glory,  making  each  freshly  washed  leaf 
and  blade  of  grass  sparkle  in  its  beams.  Even  the 
hard,  slanting  lines  of  rain  in  the  upper  left  portion 
of  the  plate  have  their  purpose,  affording  a  needed 
contrast  to  the  swiftly  changing  clouds,  which  the 
freshening  breeze  drives  before  it  over  the  peopled 
plain  and  the  far-reaching  sea  in  the  distance. 

In  1645  there  are  five  landscape  etchings.  If 
the  Three  Trees  is  Rembrandt's  most  elaborate 
plate,  Six's  Bridge  is,  in  some  ways,  his  most 
learned  performance.  According  to  tradition,  it  was 
etched  ''against  time,"  for  a  wager,  at  the  country 
house  of  Rembrandt's  friend,  Jan  Six,  while  the 
servant  was  fetching  the  mustard,  that  had  been 
forgotten,  from  a  neighboring  village.  There  is, 
however,  nothing  hasty  or  incomplete  about  it.   It 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

is,  to  use  Whistler's  words,  ^'finished  from  the  be- 
ginning," beautifully  balanced,  not  a  line  wasted, 
of  its  kind  a  perfect  work  of  art. 

There  are  no  more  landscapes  until  1650,  a  good 
year,  since  it  gives  us  eight  plates,  every  one  worthy 
of  the  most  serious  consideration.  Rembrandt  by 
this  time  apparently  had  become  dissatisfied  with 
the  relatively  limited  range  of  light  and  dark  ob- 
tainable by  the  pure  etched  line,  and  from  now 
onwards  he  relies  more  and  more  upon  dry-point 
to  obtain  his  effects,  at  times  executing  his  plates 
entirely  in  that  medium. 

The  Landscape  with  a  Haybarn  and  a  Flock  of 
Sheep  is  one  of  the  loveliest  plates  of  this  period. 
There  is  a  brilliancy  in  the  first  state,  a  quiet  har- 
mony in  the  elaborated  second  state,  which  makes 
a  choice  difficult.  Each,  in  its  way,  is  of  compelling 
beauty. 

Hardly  less  delightful  is  the  Landscape  with  a 
Milkman^  with  a  view  of  the  sea  to  the  right,  while 
at  the  left  the  cottages  snuggle  beneath  their  pro- 
tecting trees. 

The  Landscape  with  a  Ruined  Tower  and  Clear 
Foreground  is,  perhaps,  of  all  these  etchings  the 
noblest  and  the  most  dramatic.  In  the  sky  to 
the  left  are  piled  thunder  clouds.  A  faint  breeze, 
the  precursor  of  a  coming  storm,  gently  moves  the 
upper  branches  of  the  trees.  There  is  an  expectant 

[236] 


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hush,  a  tenseness,  and  we  are  made  to  feel  that  in 
a  few  minutes  the  first  heavy  raindrops  will  be 
driving  through  the  over-charged  air.  Otherwise 
all  is  still,  the  sky  to  the  right  being  yet  quiet  and 
undisturbed.  With  the  fewest  etched  lines  Rem- 
brandt has  indicated  the  form  and  growth  of  the 
trees,  adding,  just  where  needed  to  give  emphasis 
and  enrichment,  touches  of  dry-point,  concentrat- 
ing his  richest  blacks  on  the  noble  clump  which 
shuts  off  the  road  leading  toward  the  left.  With 
such  simple  means,  with  black  lines  and  white 
paper,  he  has  given  us  by  his  art  a  more  convincing 
record  of  one  of  Nature's  noblest  spectacles  than 
most  painters,  with  a  full  palette  at  their  com- 
mand, could  achieve  in  a  lifetime  of  labor. 

In  the  Three  Cottages  dry-point  is  used  with 
magnificent  effect.  Early  impressions  of  this  mas- 
terpiece have  a  richness,  a  bloom,  which  is  un- 
matched among  Rembrandt's  landscape  plates.  A 
fine  impression  of  the  third  state,  with  the  added 
shading  on  the  gabled  end  of  the  first  cottage, 
represents  the  plate  admirably.  To  be  seen  at  its 
best,  however,  it  should  not  be  too  heavily  charged 
with  ink,  since  the  tree  forms  thereby  are  confused. 
Work  such  as  this  is  so  seemingly  simple  that  one 
may  readily  overlook  the  power  of  analysis  and  the 
superb  draughtsmanship  it  displays.  Everyone 
who  loves  Rembrandt's  landscapes — and  who  that 

[241] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

knows  them  does  not  love  them? — must  bitterly 
regret  that  at  about  this  time,  in  the  very  pleni- 
tude of  his  powers,  he  saw  fit  to  bring  his  landscape 
work  to  a  close. 

It  is  true  that  we  have  the  Goldweigher  s  Field  of 
1 65 1 — an  unsurpassed  masterpiece — and  in  the  fol- 
lowing year  the  Landscape  with  a  Road  Beside  a 
Canal  and  A  Clump  of  Trees  with  a  Vista;  but  had 
he  treated  a  landscape  motive  with  the  passion 
which  breathes  from  the  Three  Crosses^  Christ  Pre- 
sented to  the  People^  or  the  Presentation  in  the  Tem- 
pky  how  much  richer  and  fuller  would  landscape 
art  have  been! 

The  Goldweigher  s  Field,  by  tradition  the  country 
seat  of  the  Receiver  General,  Uytenbogsert,  whose 
portrait  Rembrandt  had  etched  in  1639  ^^^^  Gold- 
weigher), is,  in  point  of  suggestiveness,  second  to 
none  of  Rembrandt's  plates.  The  eye  is  gently  led 
from  field  to  fertile  field,  each  with  its  own  indi- 
vidual character  and  filled  with  interesting  little 
details,  and  finally  rests  upon  the  quiet  sea  which 
stretches  to  the  horizon. 

Contemporary  with  Rembrandt,  treating  scenes 
essentially  the  same,  a  whole  school  of  etchers  pro- 
duced an  enormous  number  of  plates,  many  of 
them  charming,  but  none  to  be  classed  with  the 
permanently  great  work  in  the  history  of  the  art. 

Hercules  Seghers  is  interesting  because  of  his 

[242] 


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choice  of  wild,  rugged  mountains  for  his  subject- 
matter  and  of  his  experiments  in  color  printing, 
but  as  an  etcher  he  is  of  historical  importance  only. 

Jacob  Ruysdael  displays  a  knowledge  of  tree 
forms  and  an  appreciation  of  their  beauty,  rare  at 
any  time.  His  work  at  its  best  recalls  that  of  the 
great  nineteenth  century  master,  Theodore  Rous- 
seau, though  the  latter's  few  plates  show  a  greater 
economy  of  means  and  an  equal  affection  for  Na- 
ture in  her  wilder  moods.  The  Wheat  Field  is  one 
of  Ruysdael's  most  satisfying  plates.  The  sky,  with 
its  rolling  clouds,  is  simply  treated  and  shows  a 
knowledge  and  reticence  in  the  use  of  line  denied 
to  the  greater  number  of  his  more  laborious  con- 
temporaries, who,  in  the  main,  when  they  en- 
deavored to  "finish"  a  plate  ended  by  leaving  it 
fatigued  and  stiff. 

Claude  Gellee,  called  Claude  Lorratn,  is  the 
one  seventeenth  century  French  landscape  etcher. 
Born  in  the  year  1600  in  the  Diocese  of  Toul  and 
the  Duchy  of  Lorraine  (whence  he  derives  the  name 
by  which  he  is  best  known),  early  orphaned,  at  the 
age  of  thirteen,  after  a  varied  and  picturesque  boy- 
hood, journeyed  to  Rome,  thence  to  Naples,  and 
later  to  Venice.  In  1627  he  settled  permanently  in 
Rome,  where  he  remained  until  his  death  in  1682. 

His  etchings  are  the  fruit  of  that  indefatigable 
study  of  nature  which  he  pursued  almost  until  the 

[2451 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

day  of  his  death.  Heedless  of  fatigue,  he  would 
spend  day  after  day,  from  sunrise  until  nightfall, 
noting  every  phase  of  dawn,  the  glory  of  sunrise, 
or  the  majesty  of  the  sunset  hours.  For  him  the 
modest  nook  held  no  charm  and  exerted  no  fascina- 
tion. He  chose  for  his  theme  Nature  in  her  more 
spacious  aspects — wide-stretching  horizons  and 
deep  overarching  skies,  with  clumps  of  stately 
trees,  between  and  beyond  which  are  to  be  seen 
castle-crowned  hills,  or  a  half-ruined  temple,  the 
relic  of  Imperial  Rome,  a  passionate  love  for  which 
burned  with  a  steady  flame  in  Claude,  more  Roman 
than  the  Romans  themselves  in  his  worship  of  the 
Eternal  City  and  all  that  could  recall  her  vanished 
glory. 

Claude's  paintings  are  to  be  seen  in  nearly  every 
European  gallery  of  importance,  but  his  etchings 
are  seldom  met  with.  Really  fine  impressions  (by 
which  alone  they  can  be  judged)  are  unfortunately 
very  rare.  His  work  would  seem  to  divide  itself 
into  two  periods:  1630  to  1637,  and  1662  and 
1663.  It  is  to  the  earlier  period  that  his  finest 
work  belongs,  the  later  plates  being  heavy  and 
stiff  in  treatment.  Claude's  etchings  show  none  of 
that  economy  and  suggestiveness  of  line  which 
make  of  Rembrandt's  most  summary  sketch  a 
continuous  stimulus  and  delight.  They  are  highly 
wrought  pictures,  as  carefully  and  lovingly  finished 

[246] 


LANDSCAPE  ETCHING 

in  all  details  as  are  the  paintings  themselves.  Etch- 
ing, dry-point,  the  burnisher,  and  a  tone  produced 
by  roughening  the  surface  of  the  plate  with  pumice- 
stone  or  some  similar  material,  all  are  called  into 
play  to  produce  a  harmonious  result,  and  of  their 
kind  there  is  nothing  finer. 

The  Dance  Under  the  Trees  shows  Claude  in  his 
most  purely  pastoral  vein — classic  pastoral — seen 
through  Virgilian  eyes  and  interpreted  in  the  spirit 
of  the  Eclogues.  It  is  carefully  composed  and 
beautifully  drawn;  and  if,  to  our  more  modern 
taste,  there  seems  a  little  too  obvious  an  ^'arrange- 
ment,"  with  the  two  vistas  balancing  one  another 
at  the  right  and  left  of  the  central  group  of  trees, 
we  must  remember  that  landscape,  no  less  than 
literature  or  costume,  has  its  fashions,  and  that, 
in  Claude's  time,  balance  and  proportion  were  es- 
teemed of  greater  value  than  the  freedom  and 
spontaneity  which  we  today,  more  insistent  on  the 
individual  note,  esteem  the  chief  charm  of  etching. 

Le  Bouvier^  etched  in  1636,  is  accounted  Claude's 
masterpiece.  "For  technical  quality  of  a  certain 
delicate  kind  it  is  the  finest  landscape  etching  in 
the  world.  Its  transparency  and  gradation  have 
never  been  surpassed."*  It  is  the  work  of  a 
real  nature  lover  and  true  poet,  and  sums  up  in  a 

*  Etching  and  Etchers.  By  PhiHp  Gilbert  Hamerton.    London;  Macmillan 
&  Co.     1868.    p.  178. 

[247] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

few  square  inches  all  that  is  best  of  Claude's  art 
when  it  has  shaken  itself  free  from  the  *'set  scene" 
and  theatricalities.  Technically  it  is  not  less  ad- 
mirable. The  copper  has  been  caressed,  so  to  speak, 
with  the  needle,  until  it  responds  by  yielding  all 
those  elusive  half  lights  and  luminous  shadows 
which  play  among  the  leaves  of  the  noble  trees  to 
the  left,  while  on  the  right  the  landscape  fairly 
swims  in  light  and  air.  For  this  same  quality  of 
sunlight  Claude  tries  again  and  again  in  his  etch- 
ings, in  Sunrise  with  complete  success.  When  he 
essays  to  interpret  Nature  in  her  sterner  moods,  as 
in  the  Flock  in  Stormy  Weather  (his  one  plate  of  the 
year  1651),  he  is  far  less  happy.  The  clouds,  which 
should  be  heavy  with  rain,  are  unconvincing, 
though  the  suggestion  of  movement  in  the  trees  is 
excellent,  and  in  no  other  plate  has  he  treated 
architecture  with  a  firmer  touch  or  in  a  more  pic- 
turesque manner. 

Aft^r  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
etching,  as  an  original,  creative  art,  is  increasingly 
neglected  for  almost  two  hundred  years,  though  it 
grows  in  popularity  as  an  easy  and  expeditious 
mode  of  "forwarding"  a  plate  to  be  finished  with 
the  burin. 

To  Charles  Jacque,  in  the  early  "forties,"  be- 
longs the  honor  of  having  restored  etching  to  its 
proper  and  legitimate  place  as  a  suggestive  and 

[248] 


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linear  art.  His  method  is  based  on  a  thorough 
understanding  of  its  limitations  and  qualities  as 
exemplified  by  Rembrandt  and  his  lesser  contem- 
poraries in  Holland;  and  both  by  his  work  (he  has 
left  between  five  and  six  hundred  plates)  and  by  his 
influence,  he  is  the  father  of  the  nineteenth  century 
revival  of  etching,  not  only  in  France,  where  its 
possibilities  were  appreciated  at  once  by  the  Ro- 
mantic group  and  the  ''Men  of  1830,"  but  in  Eng- 
land, through  Seymour  Haden  and  Whistler. 

Charles  Jacque  was  born  in  Paris  on  May  23, 
1 8 13,  and  to  the  last  (he  died  at  the  ripe  age  of  81, 
in  the  year  1894)  he  retained,  in  country  life,  some- 
thing of  the  city  man's  point  of  view,  the  love  of  the 
''picturesque,"  the  anecdotic,  in  marked  contrast 
to  his  greater  contemporary,  Jean-Fran9ois  Millet, 
whose  few  etchings  form  an  epic  of  the  soil  even 
more  powerful  than  his  paintings.  For  all  that, 
Jacque  is  a  true  etcher,  working  along  the  soundest 
lines  and  safest  traditions.  He  is  unequal:  his  work 
suffers  at  times  from  a  hankering  for  "finish";  but 
at  his  best  his  little  plates  are  delightfully  suggest- 
ive, every  line  being  there  for  a  purpose,  and  not  a 
line  too  much. 

Up  to  1848  he  had  completed  some  three  hundred 
etchings  and  dry-points,  and  it  is  among  this  group 
that  many  "masterpieces  in  little"  are  to  be  found. 
It  would  be  hard  to  find  a  better  model  of  style 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

than  the  Wheat  Field.  The  print  is  scarcely 
larger  than  a  visiting  card,  but  it  conveys  a  sense 
of  spaciousness  and  "out  of  doors"  sadly  lacking  in 
many  a  painting  in  full  color  and  of  a  hundred  times 
its  size.  The  Truffle  Gatherers  is  likewise  of  modest 
size,  but  the  landscape  with  its  leafless  trees  is  full 
of  air,  and  the  sense  of  life  and  movement,  as  well 
as  the  effective  composition  of  the  "rooters"  ac- 
companied by  their  herdsman,  is,  from  many  points 
of  view,  unexcelled. 

The  Storm — Landscape  with  a  White  Horse  is 
one  of  Jacque's  finest  interpretations  of  wind  and 
rough  weather.  This  dry-point,  unfortunately  very 
rare,  recalls  the  work  of  Rembrandt  in  his  mature 
period.  The  sky,  slashed  with  driving  showers,  the 
trees  swayed  this  way  and  that  by  the  gusty  wind, 
the  white  horse  with  legs  firmly  braced,  its  mane 
and  tail  matted  by  the  rain  against  its  neck  and 
flank,  all  combine  to  heighten  and  intensify  the 
effect. 

Younger  than  Jacque  by  four  years  (he  was 
born  February  15,  1817),  Charles-Francois  Dau- 
BiGNY  differs  from  him  in  that  it  is  the  lyric,  the 
spiritual  aspect  of  nature,  rather  than  the  inciden- 
tal and  picturesque  details  of  country  life,  which 
moved  him. 

None  of  the  other  Barbizon  men  has  so  success- 
fully interpreted  the  freshness  of  early  morning, 

[252] 


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Size  of  the  original  etching,  6H  x  4H  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


LANDSCAPE  ETCHING 

the  sparkle  of  sunrise  on  tender  young  leaves  or 
dew-bespangled  grass,  the  tranquility  of  the  quiet 
pool  hidden  in  the  depth  of  the  forest.  His  first 
plate,  etched  in  collaboration  with  his  friend  Meis- 
sonier,  is  dated  1838,  and  all  through  the  "forties" 
Daubigny  continued  to  etch  either  original  motives 
or  such  as  were  commissioned  by  editors  for  the 
embellishment  of  various  publications,  in  many 
cases  poems  and  songs  of  a  pastoral  nature.  It  is, 
however,  to  the  following  decade  that  his  finest 
work  belongs — a  series  of  little  masterpieces  which, 
in  their  way,  remain  unequalled.  His  plates,  small 
in  size,  are  as  carefully  worked  out  as  those  of 
Claude  but  with  a  truer  feeling  for  the  elusive 
charm  of  still,  untroubled  places.  Later  his  style 
grows  broader  and  bolder.  Less  is  actually  said, 
more  is  suggested.  There  is  a  freedom  in  his  line 
work  which  these  etchings  of  his  middle  period  had 
hardly  led  us  to  expect  but  for  which,  in  truth,  they 
were  the  finest  preparation.  He  has  learned  to 
eliminate  the  non-essential;  and  in  etching  the  art 
of  omission  is  the  supreme  virtue. 

One  of  the  most  suggestive  plates  of  his  middle 
period  is  Deer  in  a  Wood.  The  treatment  is  perfectly 
simple  and  straightforward,  truly  linear,  as  all  good 
etching  should  be,  but  the  spirit  of  the  scene  is 
captured  and  portrayed  in  these  few,  seemingly 
careless,  lines.    Deer  Coming  Down  to  Drink  is  an- 

[^-55] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

other  altogether  dehghtful  plate  in  the  same  series. 
The  early  morning  air  is  vibrant  with  the  glory  of 
sunrise,  and  the  little  leaves  clap  their  hands  in  joy. 

*Tias  it  not  often  occurred  to  you,  in  your  ex- 
plorations as  a  tourist,  to  see  suddenly  open  before 
you  a  break  in  the  landscape,  a  little  valley,  calm, 
in  repose,  full  of  elegant  and  tranquil  forms,  of 
discreet  and  harmonious  colors,  of  softened  shad- 
ows and  lights,  bordered  by  hillsides  with  rounded 
and  retiring  forms  and  where  no  step  seems  to  have 
troubled  the  poetic  silence?  A  pond,  placed  there 
like  a  mirror,  reflects  the  picture,  and  bears  on  its 
cup-like  edge  sheaves  of  rushes,  coltsfoot,  arrow- 
heads, water-strawberries  and  the  white  and  yellow 
flowers  of  the  water  lily,  amid  which  swarm  a  buz- 
zing world  of  insects  and  gnats.  ...  As  you 
approach,  some  heron,  occupied  in  dressing  its 
plumage,  flies  ofl^,  snapping  its  beak;  the  snipe  runs 
away,  piping  its  little  cry;  then  everything  falls 
again  into  silence,  and  the  valley,  welcoming  you 
as  its  guest,  takes  up  under  your  eyes  its  mysterious 
work."*  All  this  and  more  Daubigny  gives  us  by 
his  art. 

Daubigny's  success  as  a  painter,  the  constantly 
increasing  demand  for  his  work,  left  him  little  time, 
as  years  went  by,  for  etching.  "If  only  I  could 
paint  a  picture  that  wouldn't  sell,"  he  once  said  in 

*  Count  Clement  de  Ris.    L'Artiste.    June,  1853. 

[256] 


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LANDSCAPE  ETCHING 

sheer  desperation,  and,  momentarily,  his  superb 
renderings  of  the  mystery  of  evening  and  night  ac- 
compHshed  his  object,  though  now  they  are  jeal- 
ously guarded  in  some  of  the  world's  finest  col- 
lections. But  to  etch  night,  to  suggest  moonlight — 
there  was  a  problem  indeed!  Whistler  in  his  "Noc- 
turnes" paints,  so  to  speak,  on  his  plate  with 
printer's  ink.  Daubigny  relies  on  lines  alone,  to 
produce  his  result.  ''Night  cannot  be  etched''  is  the 
dictum  of  more  than  one  authority.  No,  nor  sun- 
light either,  nor  clouds!  None  of  these  things  can 
be  pictured  so  that  blind  eyes  can  see  them.  But 
to  those  who  will  meet  the  etcher  half  way,  who 
are  content  with  a  suggestion  and  are  capable  of 
reconstructing  from  it  the  artist's  mood,  these 
simple  linear  plates  of  Daubigny's  last  period  are 
a  revelation  and  a  delight.  Moonlight  on  the  Banks 
of  the  Oise  measures  scant  four  by  six  inches,  yet 
what  a  feeling  of  space  there  is  in  it!  Only  a  born 
etcher  could  have  succeeded  by  means  so  simple, 
and  seemingly  inadequate,  in  capturing  the  very 
spirit  of  such  a  scene. 

Corot's  etched  work  comprises  fourteen  plates. 
It  was  not  until  1845,  when  he  was  in  his  fiftieth 
year,  that  he  made  his  first  experiment.  "Corot 
took  a  prepared  copper-plate  and  drew  in  the  out- 
lines and  masses  of  the  well-known  Souvenir  of 
Tuscany^  but  did   not  proceed  to  the  'biting  in' 

[^59] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

process.  Some  years  later  Felix  Bracquemond  dis- 
covered the  plate  in  a  nail-box  at  Corot's  studio 
and  begged  the  master  to  complete  it,  offering  to 
take  charge  of  the  'biting  in.'  Corot  then  took  the 
plate  and  added  the  tones  and  details  of  the  final 
state.  .  .  .  There  was  something  in  the  use  of 
mordants  and  acids  that  seemed  to  frighten  Corot, 
and  he  always  called  in  some  good  friend  such  as 
Bracquemond,  Michelin  or  Delaunay  to  assist  in 
this  delicate  process."* 

In  etching  his  method  is  as  personal  as  in  his 
painting.  He  entirely  disregards  all  the  accepted 
canons  of  the  art.  Line,  as  line^  hardly  exists  in  his 
plates;  it  is  scribble,  scribble,  everywhere.  The  tree 
trunks,  the  rocks,  foreground  and  distance,  often 
the  foliage  itself,  all  are  as  "wrong  as  wrong  can  be," 
so  far  as  accurate  representation  is  concerned.  Yet 
Corot,  great  artist  and  great  nature  poet,  can  trans- 
gress every  rule  and  still  succeed  in  conveying  his 
message.  In  the  best  of  his  etchings  he  does  succeed 
admirably.  Souvenir  of  Italy  and  Environs  of  Rome 
of  1865  (Corot  was  then  nearly  seventy  years  of 
age)  are  among  the  most  interesting  prints  of  the 
period.  In  these  plates,  and  others  like  them, 
Corot  has  given  free  rein  to  his  poetic  and  imagina- 
tive powers  and  has  drawn  upon  his  memory  of  the 

*  Le  Pere  Corot.    By  Robert  J.  Wickenden.    The  Print-Collector's  Quar- 
terly.   Vol.  2,  No.  3.    p.  382. 

[260] 


CAMILLE  COROT.     SOUVENIR  OF  ITALY 


Size  of  the  original  etching,  ii-H  x  8^8  inches 
In  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


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LANDSCAPE  ETCHING 

Italy  of  his  youth.  In  method,  in  their  disregard 
of  Une,  form  and  texture,  they  are  shining  examples 
of  what  etching  should  not  be.  In  decorative  qual- 
ity, poetic  suggestion,  and  sentiment  they  are  alto- 
gether delightful. 

In  Millet's  etchings  the  landscape  and  the 
figures  are  so  inter-related  as  to  make  any  separate 
study  of  them  unavailing.  They  are  models  of 
significant  draughtsmanship  and  profound  feeling, 
in  which  nothing  is  introduced  that  does  not  bear 
directly  upon  the  main  theme.  Shepherdess  Knit- 
tings Peasants  Going  to  Work^  Two  Men  Diggings 
and  above  all  the  Gleaners^  have  each  their  perfect 
setting.  The  wide-stretching  plain,  slightly  undu- 
lating, shimmers  in  the  hot  summer  sunshine, 
which  bathes  in  a  golden  glow  the  three  women 
gleaning,  the  harvesters  gathering  in  the  rich 
fruits  of  their  toil,  and  the  little  village,  snuggling 
amid  its  trees  in  the  far  distance  to  the  right. 

Etchers,  like  poets,  are  "born,  not  made."  But, 
as  also  in  the  case  of  poets,  natural  gifts  will  avail 
little  if  they  are  not  reinforced  by  that  capacity  for 
taking  infinite  pains,  through  which  alone  a  man 
may  so  master  his  medium  as  to  shape  it  readily 
to  his  artistic  needs.  The  etched  work  of  Seymour 
Haden  is  no  chance  happening.  It  is  the  fruit  of 
close  and  analytical  study,  by  a  man  of  forceful 
character  and  scientific  attainments,  of  the  best 

[263] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

model  of  style,  the  etchings  of  Rembrandt;  supple- 
mented by  a  familiarity  with  the  work  of  his  con- 
temporaries in  France,  the  land  of  clear  and  logical 
thinking;  and  in  no  art  is  clarity  and  brevity  of 
speech  more  essential  than  in  etching.  From  the 
beginning,  Seymour  Haden  was  in  possession  of 
all  his  powers,  both  in  etching  and  in  dry-point. 
There  is  no  uncertainty  in  that  which  he  wishes  to 
say,  no  fumbling  in  his  manner  of  saying  it.  The 
reticences  and  half-hesitations  of  Daubigny  are  not 
for  him;  there  is  no  place  for  Corot's  scribbled  po- 
etry. He  will  give  us  a  strong  man's  interpretation 
of  the  lovely  English  landscape,  in  which  he  takes  a 
pride,  as  in  any  other  personal  possession — God's 
visible  and  abounding  bounty  to  a  superior  people. 
It  is  *'the  bones  of  things"  (his  own  phrase)  that  he 
wishes,  above  all  else,  to  give.  At  his  best  he  suc- 
ceeds magnificently,  but  in  much  of  his  work, 
structurally  fine  though  it  be,  it  is  the  frame  rather 
than  the  spirit  that  he  portrays. 

A  Water  Meadow  (incidentally,  a  plate  which  the 
artist  himself  liked)  is  a  fine  transcript  of  a  sudden 
shower  in  the  Hampshire  lowlands.  It  is  bold  and 
painter-like,  admirable  from  every  point  of  view, 
though  some  may  prefer  On  the  Test^  with  its  truly 
noble  sky,  etched  later  in  the  day  from  a  somewhat 
different  point  of  view.  Cardigan  Bridge  is  a  model 
of  what  a  sketch  should  be,  free,  suggestive,  spon- 

[264] 


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LANDSCAPE  ETCHING 

taneous,  yet  full  of  knowledge.  It  is  one  of  five 
similar  plates,  etched  in  a  single  day,  August  17, 
1864,  a  "good  day"  indeed,  such  as  rarely  comes  to 
etchers  or  to  painters !  The  more  one  sees  of  modern 
etching,  the  more  one  is  inclined  to  value  work  of 
this  order.  It  is  so  easy,  so  fatally  easy,  to  make 
wriggles  in  the  water  and  scribbles  in  the  sky;  but 
to  suggest,  by  these  seeming  careless  loops  and 
latchets,  the  flow  of  the  river,  the  movement  of 
clouds,  the  splendor  of  the  setting  sun — that  indeed 
is  another  matter!  Yet  all  this,  and  more,  Seymour 
Haden  has  done  in  a  magisterial  manner. 

By-road  in  Tipperary  is  the  largest  and  most 
highly  prized  of  his  woodland  plates  and  well  de- 
serves the  reputation  it  so  long  has  enjoyed.  Struc- 
turally the  trees  are  very  fine,  both  as  to  branch 
and  stem  drawing;  and,  as  in  the  two  plates  of 
Keyisington  Gardens^  the  suggestion  of  foliage  with 
the  light  filtering  through  the  leaves  is  quite  beauti- 
ful. Sunset  in  Ireland  is  a  plate  which  the  artist, 
the  collector,  and  the  general  public  all  unite  in 
praising.  ''That  is  the  plate,"  said  Seymour  Haden, 
shortly  before  his  death,  "which,  in  years  to  come, 
will  fetch  the  enormous  prices!"  And  his  prophecy 
has  come  true.  Both  in  its  earlier  states,  less  rich 
in  burr,  with  a  luminous  evening  efl"ect,  and  in  the 
later  and  darker  impressions,  it  is  "a  thing  of 
beauty" — one  of  the  most  remarkable  landscape 

[269] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

plates  of  modern  times,  wherein  the  artist  has 
captured,  for  once,  all  the  poetry  and  melancholy 
sentiment  of  the  twilight  hour.  Sawley  Abbey ^  on 
the  River  Ribble  in  Lancashire,  has,  to  some  of  us, 
however,  a  "swing"  and  pattern,  which  make  of  it 
a  better  and  more  manly  plate.  It  must  be  seen  in 
an  early  state  to  be  adequately  judged.  For  some 
inexplicable  reason  the  artist  saw  fit  later  to  "clean 
up"  the  sky  and  all  the  foreground  to  the  right, 
leaving  the  plate  cold,  empty,  and  almost  mean- 
ingless. 

Nine  Barrow  Down^  a  dry-point,  is  in  Haden's 
happiest  vein.  It  is  instinct  with  that  priceless 
quality,  the  "art  which  conceals  art,"  and  is  so 
seeming  simple  that  one  may  readily  forget  that  its 
"simplicity"  is  the  result  of  a  most  rigid  selection 
of  the  essential  lines,  guided  by  the  knowledge  of  a 
lifetime. 

There  is  a  growing  tendency  among  the  younger 
and  more  "advanced"  collectors  to  belittle  Sey- 
mour Haden  and  his  work.  Unquestionably  there 
are  many  etchings  which  fall  far  short  of  his  best; 
but  at  his  best,  in  the  dozen  or  two  plates  of  which 
he  himself  approved,  he  towers  far  above  any  of 
his  contemporaries,  and  there  seems  little  likeli- 
hood of  his  supremacy  in  landscape  being  seriously 
threatened. 

Whistler,  "the  greatest  etcher  and  the  most  ac- 

[270] 


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complished  lithographer  who  ever  Hved"  (accord- 
ing to  Mr.  Joseph  Pennell),  seems  to  have  inter- 
ested himself  in  landscape  hardly  at  all.  Not  even 
his  most  ardent  disciples  would  assert  that  the 
master's  few  purely  landscape  plates  contribute 
greatly  to  the  pyramid  of  his  fame.  But  even  here 
one  must  tread  softly.  Whistlerium  tremens  is  still 
a  highly  contagious  disease;  and  has  not  his  official 
biographer  written  "All  his  work  is  alike  perfect"? 
How  then  may  a  modest  lecturer  presume  to  praise 
or  compare?  Let  Mr.  Pennell  speak:  "Look  at 
Rembrandt's  prints  made,  I  do  not  know  whether 
with  Amsterdam  or  Zaandam  in  the  background, 
and  then  at  Whistler's  of  the  same  subjects.  Rem- 
brandt drew  and  bit  and  printed  these  little  plates 
as  no  one  had  up  to  his  time.  But  Whistler  is  as 
much  in  advance  of  Rembrandt  as  that  great  artist 
was  of  his  predecessors.  In  these  little  distant  views 
of  absolutely  the  same  subject.  Whistler  has  tri- 
umphed. It  is  not  necessary  to  explain  how:  you 
have  only  to  see  the  prints  to  know  it.  .  .  The 
older  master  is  conservative  and  mannered;  the 
modern  master,  respecting  all  the  great  art  of  the 
past,  is  gracious  and  sensitive,  and  perfectly  free." 
"You  have  only  to  see  the  prints  to  know  it." 
W'ell,  let  us  look  at  two  of  them:  Rembrandt's 
View  of  Amsterdam^  of  1640,  and  Whistler's 
/.aaridam.  "Why  drag  in  Velasquez?"  the  master  of 

[^73] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 

the  gentle  art  of  making  enemies  is  reported  to 
have  said,  upon  one  historic  occasion.  This  time, 
so  far  as  landscape  etching  is  concerned,  may  it 
not  be  Rembrandt's  turn  to  say,  "Why  drag  in 
Whistler?" 


:^74] 


LANDSCAPE  ETCHING 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Fine  Prints.    By  Frederick  Wedmore.     15  illustrations.    Edinburgh:  John 

Grant.    1905. 

The  Great  Painter-Etchers  from  Rembrandt  to  Whistler.  By  Malcolm 

C.  Salaman.    Edited  by  Charles  Holme.     191   illustrations.    London,  Paris, 

New  York:  The  Studio.    191 4. 

Four  Masters  of  Etching.    [Haden,  Jacquemart,  Whistler,  Legros.]    By 

Frederick  Wedmore.    Original  etchings  by  Haden,  Jacquemart,  Whistler,  and 

Legros.    London:  Fine  Art  Society.    1883. 

Dutch  Etchers  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.    By  Laurence  Binyon.    4 

reproductions    and    29    text    illustrations.     London:  Seeley    &    Co.      iSgi;. 

(Portfolio  Artistic  Monographs.    No.  21.) 

Altdorfer,  Albrecht  (c.  1480-1538) 

Albrecht  Altdorfer  By  T.  Sturge  Moore.  Edited  by  Laurence  Binyon. 
25  illustrations.  New  York:  Longmans,  Green  &  Co.;  London:  The  Unicorn 
Press.    1 901., 

Albrecht  Altdorfers  Landschafts  Radierungen.  Edited  by  Max  J. 
Friedldnder.  9  reproductions  and  1  text  illustration.  Berlin:  Bruno  Cassirer. 
1906.    (Graphische  Gesellschaft.    Publication  3.) 

Albrecht  Altdorfer  and  Wolf  Huber.  By  Hermann  Voss.  160  repro- 
ductions on  63  plates.  Leipzig:  Klinkhardt  &  Biermann.  1910.  (Meister 
der  Graphik.    Vol.  3.) 

Gellee,  Claude,  called  Lorrain  (1600-1682) 

Claude  Lorrain;  Painter  and  Etcher.  By  George  Graham.  4  reproduc- 
tions and  23  text  illustrations.  London:  Seeley  &  Co.  1895.  (The  Portfolio 
Artistic  Monographs.) 

Rembrandt  Harmensz  van  Rijn  (See  also  Bibliography 
under  "Some  Masters  of  Portraiture,"  p.  224.) 

Rembrandt's  Landscape  Etchings.  By  Laurence  Binyon.  8  illustrations. 
The  Print-Collector's  Quarterly,  Vol.  2,  No.  4,  pp.  407-432.    Boston.    191 2. 

Jacque,  Charles  Emile  (1813-1894) 

L'oeuvre  de  Ch.  Jacque;  catalogue  de  ses  eaux-fortes  et  pointes 
SECHES.  By  Jules  Marie  Joseph  Guiffrey.  With  an  original  etching.  Paris: 
Mile.  Lemaire.    1866. 

.    NouvELLES  eaux-fortes  ET  POINTES  SECHES.    Supplement  au 

catalogue.    Paris:  Jouaust  &  Sigaux.    1884. 

Charles  Jacque.  By  Robert  J  Wickenden.  18  illustrations.  The  Print- 
Collector's  Quarterly,  Vol.  2,  No.  i,  pp.  74-101.    Boston.    191 2. 


[275] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 


Reprinted.    Boston:  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.    1914.     (Print- 


Collectors'  Booklets.) 

Daubigny,  Charles  Francois  (1817-1878) 

C  Daubigny  et  son  oeuvre  grave.  By  Frederic  Henriet.  5  original  etch- 
ings and  4  reproductions.    Paris:  A.  Levy.  1875. 

Daubigny.  By  Jean  Laran.  48  reproductions.  Paris:  Librairie  centrale  des 
Beaux-Arts.    n.  d.    (L'Art  de  Notre  Temps.) 

Charles-Francois  Daubigny;  Painter  and  Etcher.  By  Robert  J.  fflcken- 
den.  15  illustrations.  The  Print-Collector's  Quarterly,  Vol.  3,  No.  2,  pp. 
177-206.    Boston.    1913. 

.  Reprinted.  Boston:  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.  1914.  (Print- 
Collectors'  Booklets.) 

CoRor,  Jean  Baptiste  Camille  (1796-1875) 

CoROT.  By  Loys  Delteil.  An  original  etching  and  102  reproductions.  Paris: 
L'auteur.  1910.  (Le  peintre-graveur  illustre,  XIX^  et  XX^  siecles.  Vol.  5.) 
CoROT  and  Millet.  With  critical  essays  by  Gustave  Geffroy  and  Arsene 
Alexandre.  Edited  by  Charles  Holme.  120  illustrations.  London,  Paris,  New 
York:  John  Lane.    1902.    (The  Studio.) 

"Le  Pere  Corot."    By  Robert  J.  Wickenden.    9  illustrations.    The  Print- 
Collector's  Quarterly,  Vol.  2,  No.  3,  pp.  365-386.    Boston.    191 2. 
.    Reprinted.    Boston:  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.     1914.     (Print- 
Collectors'  Booklets.) 

Millet,  Jean-Franqois  (1814-1875) 

Jean-Fran50IS  Millet,  By  Arsene  Alexandre.  The  Etchings  of  J.  F. 
Millet.  By  Frederick  Keppel.  85  illustrations.  London  and  New  York: 
John  Lane.    1903.    (The  Studio.) 

Jean-Francois  Millet.  By  Loys  Delteil.  Illustrated.  Paris:  L'auteur. 
1906.  (Le  peintre-graveur  illustre,  XIX^  et  XX^  siecles.  Vol.  L) 
Alfred  Lebrun's  Catalogue  of  the  Etchings,  Heliographs,  Litho- 
graphs AND  Woodcuts  Done  by  Jean-Francois  Millet.  Translated  from 
the  French  by  Frederick  Keppel.  With  additional  notes  and  a  sketch  of  the 
artist's  life.  7  reproductions.  New  York:  Frederick  Keppel  &  Co.  1887. 
Jean-Francois  Millet;  Painter-Etcher.  By  Mrs.  Schuyler  Van  Rensse- 
laer. With  a  biographical  sketch  of  Millet  by  Frederick  Keppel.  11  illus- 
trations. New  York:  Frederick  Keppel  &  Co.  1901.  (The  Keppel  Booklets. 
1st  series.) 

The  Art  and  Etchings  of  Jean-Francois  Millet.  By  Robert  J. 
Wickenden.  14  illustrations.  The  Print-Collector's  Quarterly,  Vol.  2,  No.  2, 
pp.  225-250.    Boston.    1912. 

.     Reprinted.     Boston:    Houghton    Mifflin    Company.     191 4. 

(Print-Collectors'  Booklets.) 

[276] 


LANDSCAPE  ETCHING 

Millet's  Drawings  in  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston.  By  Robert  J. 
Wickenden.  ii  illustrations.  The  Print-Collector's  Quarterly,  Vol.  4,  No.  i, 
pp.  3-30.    Boston.    1 91 4. 

Haden,  Francis  Seymour  (1818-1910) 

A  Descriptive  Catalogue  of  the  Etched  Work  of  Francis  Seymour 
Haden.  By  Sir  William  Richard  Drake.  London:  Macmillan  &  Co.  1880. 
The  Engraved  Work  of  Sir  Francis  Seymour  Haden,  P.  R.  E.  By  H. 
Nazeby  Harrington.  250  reproductions  on  109  plates.  Liverpool:  Henry 
Young  &  Sons.    1910. 

The  Water-Colors  and  Drawings  of  Sir  Seymour  Haden,  P.  R.  E.  By 
H.  Nazeby  Harrington.  8  illustrations.  The  Print-Collector's  Quarterly, 
Vol.  I,  No.  4,  pp.  405-41 9.    Boston.    191 1. 

Sir  Seymour  Haden,  Painter-Etcher.  By  Frederick  Keppel.  5  illustra- 
tions. New  York:  Frederick  Keppel  &  Co.  1901.  (The  Keppel  Booklets. 
1st  series.) 

Personal  Characteristics  of  Sir  Seymour  Haden,  P.  R.  E.  By  Frederick 
Keppel.  27  illustrations.  The  Print-Collector's  Quarterly.  2  parts.  Part  L 
Vol.  I,  No.  3,  pp.  291-316     Part  n.  Vol   i,  No.  4,  pp.  421-442.    Boston.    191 1. 

Whistler,  James  Abbott  McNeill 

The  Etched  Work  of  Whistler.  Illustrated  by  Reproductions  in 
Collotype  of  the  Different  States  of  the  Plates.  Compiled,  arranged, 
and  described  by  Edward  G.  Kennedy.  With  an  introduction  by  Royal  Cortis- 
soz  1002  reproductions.  New  York:  The  Grolier  Club.  1910. 
A  Descriptive  Catalogue  of  the  Etchings  and  Drypoints  of  James 
Abbott  McNeill  Whistler.  By  Howard  Mansfield,  i  portrait.  Chicago: 
Caxton  Club.    1909. 

Whistler  as  a  Critic  of  His  Own  Prints.  By  Howard  Mansfield.  12  illus- 
trations. The  Print-Collector's  Quarterly,  Vol.  3,  No.  4,  pp.  367-393. 
Boston.    1 913. 

The  Life  of  James  McNeill  Whistler.  By  Elizabeth  Robins  Pennell  and 
Joseph  Pennell.  97  illustrations.  5th  edition.  Philadelphia:  J.  B.  Lippincott 
Company.    191 1. 

Mr.  Whistler's  Lithographs;  the  Catalogue.  By  Thomas  R.  Way.  i 
lithograph.    London:  George  Bell  &  Sons.    1896. 

Whistler's  Lithographs.  By  Thomas  R:  Way.  18  illustrations.  The  Print- 
Collector's  Quarterly,  Vol.  3,  No.  3,  pp.  279-309.  Boston.  1913. 
The  Lithographs  by  Whistler,  Illustrated  by  Reproductions  in 
Photogravure  and  Lithography,  Arranged  According  to  the  Cata- 
logue BY  Thomas  R.  Way,  with  Additional  Subjects  Not  Before  Re- 
corded. 166  reproductions.  New  York:  Kennedy  &  Co.  1914. 
The  Art  of  James  McNeill  Whistler.  By  T.  R.  Way  and  G.  R.  Dennis. 
II  portraits  and  41  plates.    London:  George  Bell  &  Sons.    1904. 

[277] 


ENGRAVERS  AND  ETCHERS 


Whistler's  Etchings;  a  Study  and  a  Catalogue.  By  Frederick  Wedmore 
London:  A.  W.  Thibaudeau.    1886. 

.    Same.    2nd  edition.    London:  P.  &  D.  Colnaghi  &  Co.    1899. 

The  Gentle  Art  of  Making  Enemies.  By  J.  A.  McN.  Whistler.  London: 
William  Heinemann.    1890. 

.    Same.    2nd  edition.    1892. 

.    Same.    3rd  edition.    1904. 

The  Gentle  Art  of  Making  Enemies.  Edited  by  Sheridan  Ford.  Paris: 
Delabrosse  &  Compagnie.    1890. 

Cameron,  David  Young  (1865-         ) 

D.  Y.  Cameron;  an  Illustrated  Catalogue  of  His  Etched  Work;  with 
AN  Introductory  Essay  and  Descriptive  Notes  on  Each  Plate.  By 
Frank  Kinder.  444  reproductions.  Glasgow:  J.  MacLehose  &  Sons.  191 2. 
Cameron's  Etchings;  a  Study  and  a  Catalogue.  By  Frederick  Wedmore. 
London:  R.  Gutekunst.    1903. 

Bone,  Muirhead  (1876-         ) 

Etchings  and  Drypoints  by  Muirhead  Bone.  By  Campbell  Dodgson. 
Portrait.    London:  Obach  &:  Co.    1909. 


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